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Effect of gamma-radiation on Glossina pallidipes Aust.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
Extract
Sufficient pupae of G. pallidipes Aust. for testing were available from the Zambezi valley only between September and early November and were of all ages. These pupae or the adult fly were exposed to gamma-radiation from a 60Co source at rates between 54 and 122 rads per min., and reproduction and mortality were studied by described procedures.
Effective pupal mortality due to radiation increased, and the proportion of males among the viable emerging flies decreased, with dosage between 4,000 and 16,000 rads. Eeproduction and survival of adult males emerging from treated pupae decreased with an increase in dosage and a decrease in pupal age at the time of treatment. Irradiation of adult males within three days of emergence produced slightly lower levels of sterility and similar survivals. Complete male sterility was rarely obtained with any of the treatments, though all the females, with one exception, were sterilised from 4,000 rads upwards, but the flies were fully competitive with untreated males and reduced reproduction below expected values. Treated males were fully capable of inseminating female flies and the sperm was motile and apparently behaved normally. Dominant lethality in the males appeared to be expressed by the failure to produce pupae and in the females by the complete failure of oogenesis.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969
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