The effect of feeding the tsetse fly Glossina Morsitans Westw. on impala blood

Abstract

In a laboratory investigation in Rhodesia of the ability of Glossina morsitans Westw. to digest blood from the impala (Aepyceros melampus), the efficiency of digestion, as measured by the regression of the amount of haematin excreted in 48 hr. on the size of the blood meal, was found not to differ significantly between flies fed on impala blood and flies fed on blood from a variety of vertebrate hosts. This result, together with the report that captive flies can be induced to engorge from a live impala, refuts the suggestion that the low incidence of impala blood meals recorded in the firld is because impala blood contains a facor lethal to tsetse. One possible reason for the non-utilisation of this antelope, despite its abundance in tsetse areas, is its vigorous reaction to biting insects.