Survival and behaviour of tsetse flies (Diptera, Glossinidae) released in the field: a comparison between wild flies and animal-fed and <i>in vitro</i>-fed laboratory-reared flies

Abstract

Abstract Male and female Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. which emerged from puparia produced by animal-fed and in vitro-fed colonies in England were marked distinctively with non-toxic paint and released into a natural habitat of G. morsitans and G. pallidipes Aust. in Rhodesia. Concurrently, adults of both species which emerged from locally-collected puparia were marked and released. Recaptures from artificial refuges, odour attractants and mobile baits at periods up to 59 days after release and at distances up to 1800 m from the release site indicated no clear differences between native G. morsitans and the two laboratory-reared groups in respect of body size, amount of fat present at emergence, survival, dispersal, availability to a range of baits, diet, speed of taking a first meal, wing damage and insemination rate. Although the blood-meal identifications for marked female G. morsitans were similar to those for both sexes of unmarked flies, blood-meals from marked males showed a relatively high proportion of bovid identifications. Unmarked flies caught were generally older than marked catches. The ratio of females to males in unmarked samples (1:1 for G. morsitans , 2:1 for G. pallidipes ) was roughly double that in marked catches.