Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
A breeding-place of Glossina pallidipes Aust., in evergreen shrubs of Craibia sp. on the Kiangine river, Makueni, Kenya, was studied by means of hand-searching for puparia in conjunction with records of rainfall and temperature. A fly-patrol was also operated. The country away from the river was thorn-scrub, with Acacia and Commiphora trees predominating.
Three sites, each of 200 sq. yards, divided into 50 squares, were marked out, and two of them were searched monthly and the third quarterly.
Site “ A ” was searched nearly every month between April 1949 and June 1952, and full puparia were nearly always found. Numbers varied very widely; and it was noted that few could be found in rainy seasons during the months of November to January and April to May, though 1950 was an abnormal year. A consistently large increase in numbers was observed in February, the hottest and driest month, and a rather less marked increase towards the end of the long dry season in September and October. Large numbers of full puparia also tended to coincide with times of low average minimum temperature.
The numbers of flies caught on the fly-patrol did not appear to bear any close relation to the numbers of full puparia discovered.
Testing for efficiency of searching by means of marked puparia showed that about 40 per cent. of puparia were recovered, so that results must be taken as relative.