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Rapid Changes in the Reproductive Cycle of Wild-Caught Tsetse, Glossina Pallidipes Austen, When Brought into the Laboratory

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Abstract

This paper describes differences in reproductive and nutritional conditions that develop within 2 weeks of the transfer of wild-caught female Glossina pallidipes Austen to apparently ideal laboratory conditions. In order to investigate the relative sampling efficiency of baited NG2B traps for female G. pallidipes and the flies’ changing feeding behaviour on different days of the pregnancy cycle, samples of female G. pallidipes taken directly from the field and those held in the laboratory for a known number of days after larviposition were subjected to both ovarian dissection (including the measurement of the uterine content and the two largest ovarioles) and fat and haematin analysis. Under the laboratory conditions of slightly lower mean temperature (buffered against diurnal fluctuations), lower activity and higher feeding frequency than in the field, the interlarval period was prolonged, the third larval instar was disproportionately prolonged, the ovarioles and larvae in utero showed differential growth rates, pupal size was increased and the fat reserves of post-partum females was depleted. It is concluded that tsetse are very responsive to the precise environmental conditions in which they find themselves and that absolute quantitative measurements made in the laboratory cannot be applied directly to the field situation.

Résumé

Cette thèse décrit les différences en matière des conditions reproductives et nutritionnelles qui se dévéloppent dans l’espace de deux semaines d’adaptation de la femelle sauvage capturée de tsé-tsé Glossina pallidipes d’Austen aux conditions apparemment idéales dans un laboratoire. Dans le but d’investiguer l’efficacité relative d’échantillonnage des pièges NG2B où l’on a mis de appâts pour attraper des femelles G. pallidipes et de faire des recherches sur le changement du comportement alimentaire des mouches au cours du cycle de “grossesse”, des échantillons de la femelle G. pallidipes pris directement de leur champ naturel et ceux de celles qui se trouvent dans le laboratoire pendant un nombre jours connus après le dépot de larves ont été soumises à la dissection de l’ovaires (comprenant le mesurage du contenu utérin et les tubes ovaires les plus grands) et à l’analyse des matière grasses et de l’hématine. Sous les conditions laboratoires d’une température légèrement basse (protégée contre les fluctuations diurnes) une basses activité et une fréquence alimentaire plus élevée que dans la nature, la période interlavaire était prolongée, les tubes ovaires et les larves in utero ont montré des taux grasses des femelles dans la période post-natale était épuisées. On est arrivée à la conclusion selon laquelle les tsé-tsé sont très sensibles aux conditions environnementales précises dans lesquelles ils se trouvent et que les mesures quantitatives absolues prises dans le laboratoire ne peuvent pas être appliquées directement dans un environnement naturel.

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Randolph, S.E., Rogers, D.J. & Kiilu, J. Rapid Changes in the Reproductive Cycle of Wild-Caught Tsetse, Glossina Pallidipes Austen, When Brought into the Laboratory. Int J Trop Insect Sci 11, 347–354 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400012765

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400012765

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