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Eclosion behavior in tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae): Extrication from the puparium and expansion of the adult

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Abstract

The tsetse adult extricates itself from the puparium and surrounding substrate by a series of muscular contractions that generate a Stereotypic pattern of changes in hemolymph pressure. The digging action of the fly can be distinguished from a second pattern of hemocoelic pulsations that is used to remove obstacles from its path. When the fly is restrained extrication behavior will persist for over 10 h. If the adult's legs are freed while the remainder of the body remains encased in the puparium, the fly fails to engage in extrication behavior, a result which suggests that freedom of the legs switches off extrication behavior and permits the onset of expansion of the body to its final adult size and shape. Expansion behavior includes walking, grooming, pumping air into the gut, and contracting the abdominal muscles to generate rhythmic pulses of hemocoelic pressure. A barographic record of internal pressure changes reflects the dynamics of this morphogenetic process. Results from tsetse are compared with previous observations recorded in flesh flies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya

    Jan Zdárek & David L. Denlinger

  2. Insect Chemical Ecology Unit, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, U Šalamounky 41, 15800, Prague 5, Czechoslovakia

    Jan Zdárek

Authors
  1. Jan Zdárek
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  2. David L. Denlinger
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Zdárek, J., Denlinger, D.L. Eclosion behavior in tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae): Extrication from the puparium and expansion of the adult. J Insect Behav 5, 657–668 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048011

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048011

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