The Hunger-Cycles of Glossina morsitans Westwood and G. swynnertoni Austen

Abstract

The hunger- cycle of the tsetse fly, G. morsitans in the mid-dry season in Tanganyika is between 3 and 4 days and for G. swynnertoni it is 25 or 3 days. This explains why G. synnertoni, which from laboratory evidence is not more resistant to desiccation, is able to live in a more arid environment than G. morsitans, in * association with a generally high density of host animals. It is supposed that G. morsitans on the contrary is not adapted to frequent feeding, but to assimilating more food from each meal, and that it can only function normally in a well-shaded environment.