A method of studying the efficiency of traps for tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) and other insects

1979 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Vale ◽  
J. W. Hargrove

AbstractAn incomplete ring of electrified nets was placed round a trap or round an electrified net and visual target in woodland infested with Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. and G. pallidipes Aust. in Rhodesia. The distribution of catches in these systems was used to estimate the minimum efficiencies with which the trap or net and target captured flies that were initially attracted by odours derived from a herd of cattle hidden below ground. With mature tsetse, the estimates for the trap were 23 and 21% for male and female G. morsitans, respectively, and 70 and 49% for male and female G. pallidipes. For the net and target, the corresponding figures were 29, 30, 53 and 43. The coefficient of variation of such estimates (about 10%) was low enough to suggest that the technique affords a quick and reliable means of screening the efficiency of many trap designs. Factors responsible for the efficiency of the trap were elucidated. Data for other insects were obtained.

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Gooding

A significant proportion of post-teneral male Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood and post-teneral male and female Glossina morsitans centralis Machado develop mature infections of Trypanosoma brucei brucei Plimmer and Bradford without being starved before feeding upon infected rabbits.


1976 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Vale ◽  
J. W. Hargrove ◽  
A. M. Jordan ◽  
P. A. Langley ◽  
A. R. Mews

AbstractMale 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.


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (11) ◽  
pp. 1899-1905 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Gooding

A haemolytic agent (haemolysin), which lysed rabbit erythrocytes in an isotonic buffer. occurred in the digestive section of the midgut of adult male and female tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans) but not in the anterior, nondigestive section of the midgut. Haemolysin from females also lysed horse, cow, and pig erythrocytes, and it occurred in the midgut lumen but not in the midgut wall 6, 24. and 48 h after feeding. Little or no haemolysin was present in unfed flies but it was present in the midgut by 3 h after feeding on a rabbit: maximum activity occurred in the midgut 24–48 h after feeding. Flies fed on a meal containing 20 μg or more puromycin/ml produced only small quantities of haemolysin. Flies fed upon erythrocytes, haemoglobin, methaemoglobin, and myoglobin produced large quantities of haemolysin while those fed upon erythrocyte stroma, serum proteins, cytochrome c, or 1 mM ATP in 0.85% NaCl did not.


1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Vale

AbstractIn studies in the Zambesi Valley, Zimbabwe, carbon dioxide alone dispensed at 2·5 to 15 litres/min, or acetone alone dispensed at 0·3 to 300 g·h, increased by up to six times the catches of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw, and G. pallidipes Aust. from stationary biconical traps, stationary electrocuting traps used with and without a visual target, and a mobile party of hand-net catchers. Catches were increased further when the chemicals were dispensed together. Carbon dioxide at 2·5 litres/min plus acetone at 15 g/h was about half as effective as ox odour for enhancing the catches from an electrocuting trap plus target; the efficacy of carbon dioxide at 15 litres/min plus acetone at 300 g/h was not significantly different from that of ox odour. Several short-chain ketones, and also formaldehyde and propionaldehyde, were attractive. Several long-chain ketones, and also heptaldehyde and caproic acid, were repellent. Carbon dioxide was attractive for Tabanidae, Stomoxyinae and non-biting Muscidae. Acetic acid was repellent for Stomoxyinae and non-biting Muscidae.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 1149-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
W G Evans ◽  
R H Gooding

The roles and interactions of turbulent plumes of heat, moist heat, and carbon dioxide in mediating upwind flight of adult tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood) were investigated using a wind tunnel in a constant-environment chamber. Heat fluctuations in the plume that were detected by a thermocouple and displayed as oscilloscope traces allowed direct visualization of the structures of the plumes. Significantly more flies flew upwind when exposed to plumes of (i) carbon dioxide (0.0051% above background) and air (58% relative humidity) compared with air alone; (ii) carbon dioxide and heated air (35% relative humidity and temperature fluctuating up to 0.09°C above background) compared with carbon dioxide and air; and (iii) carbon dioxide and moist (82% relative humidity) heated air (temperature fluctuating up to 0.05°C above background) compared with carbon dioxide and heated air. However, there were no significant differences in upwind flight of flies exposed to plumes of (i) air compared with humidified air (65% relative humidity); (ii) carbon dioxide and heated air compared with heated air alone; and (iii) carbon dioxide and moist heated air compared with moist heated air alone. Recorded temperature fluctuations in heat plumes transported downwind from a tethered steer in a pasture showed patterns similar to those produced in the wind-tunnel plumes. These results suggest that host emissions of carbon dioxide alone and combined heat and moisture carried downwind by low-velocity winds elicit upwind anemotaxis in tsetse flies, which distinguish these emissions from a background of lower atmospheric levels.


1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Vale

AbstractField studies in Zimbabwe elucidated how trees might be enhanced as baits for controlling Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood and G. pallidipes Austen. Catches from electrocuting devices at the bases of trees were near nil when sampling tsetse flies landing on the trunk but much greater when sampling them flying within 1 m of the trunk. Catches increased 5–8 times when 2 m2 of the trunk were blackened and given odour of acetone, 1-octen-3-ol, 3-n-propyl phenol and 4-methyl phenol, but were still only ca. 30% of the catches from an odour-baited, free-standing, 1 × 1 m screen of black cloth. The upright trunk of real and model trees hindered their attractiveness but leaves and branches 5 m above ground had no clear effect. Real and artificial stumps of trees were as effective as the screen if they were 1 m2, compact and sharply outlined. The practical and biological implications of the results are discussed, with particular reference to the use of insecticide-treated netting with modified tree stumps as baits for control.


1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon G. Houseman

The anterior midgut of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood contains a proteinase inhibitor, molecular weight 5000 ± 2000daltons, stable to 1 M HCl, heat, and dialysis, but unstable to 1% trichloroacetic acid. Inhibitor activity is not associated with anticoagulant in the anterior midgut. The specific activity of the proteinase inhibitor is similar in mated and unmated females and greater than in male tsetse flies. Proteinase inhibitor inhibits proteinase VI and trypsin hydrolysis of N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) and benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA) but has no effect on proteinase VI hydrolysis of haemoglobin. Inhibition of trypsin hydrolysis of haemoglobin is noncompetitive. Proteinase inhibitor levels in the anterior midgut decreased immediately after feeding and then increased, reaching a maximum 60–100 h after ingestion of the bloodmeal. Postteneral flies contained higher levels of proteinase inhibitor than teneral individuals. Trypsin activity in gut homogenates of Phormia regina and Aedes aegypti was inhibited by the tsetse inhibitor. There was no detectable inhibition of bovine or Pterostichus adstrictus trypsin activity. Inhibition of Periplaneta americana trypsin occurred but was less than fly trypsin inhibition. The possible role of the inhibitor in terminating proteinase production is discussed.


Acta Tropica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benson M. Wachira ◽  
Paul O. Mireji ◽  
Sylvance Okoth ◽  
Margaret M. Ng’ang’a ◽  
Julius M. William ◽  
...  

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