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Observations on sex attraction and mating behaviour of the tsetse fly Glossina morsitans orientalis Vanderplank

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

G. J. W. Dean ,
S. A. Clements  and
J. Paget
G. J. W. Dean
Affiliation:
Tsetse Research Unit, University College of Rhodesia, Salisbury, Rhodesia
S. A. Clements
Affiliation:
Tsetse Research Unit, University College of Rhodesia, Salisbury, Rhodesia
J. Paget
Affiliation:
Tsetse Research Unit, University College of Rhodesia, Salisbury, Rhodesia
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Extract

Laboratory and field investigations into sex attraction and mating behaviour of Glossina morsitans orientalis Vanderplank have been described. Male flies were not attracted to volatile and soluble compounds from two- to three-day-old mature virgin females, or to virgin females in a simple olfactometer. Removal of antennae from either sex did not appreciably reduce insemination rates after 24–48-h mating periods compared with normal flies. Similar numbers of wild male flies were caught off oxen baited or non-baited with mature virgin females. G. m. orientalis probably does not produce a pheromone.

Male flies appeared to be sexually activated only after movement by the female. Mating success was reduced in the dark and when the male's eyes were painted, but blinding the female fly did not reduce insemination. Mating was similar with or without wings and halteres and the sounds produced by them.

Time between pairing the sexes and the start of mating tended to increase, and the percentage of inseminated females accepting two or more matings decreased, after the first copulation. Female flies rarely re-mated within a day. Virgin female flies accepted males passively with partly open wings, and mated females rejected further copulation with closed wings, activity to shake the male off, and primarily a downward-curved abdomen. Virgin female flies mated for periods of 1–45 min did not receive sperm but successful ad libitum mating was reduced a day later. Insemination rates decreased with females older than seven days and reached zero 28–83 days after eclosion, while 37-day-old males inseminated 93% of young females.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , October 1969 , pp. 355 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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