LIFE HISTORY OF TSETSE FLIES 



495 



Fig. 233. Newly 

 born larva of tsetse 

 fly, Glossina palpa- 

 lis. X 5. (After 

 Roubaud.) 



especially on certain large lizards. Lloyd thinks that small mam- 

 mals and birds may be important sources of food for tsetses, for, 

 though these animals are usually able to avoid attacks by the 

 flics during their time of activity, many of the nocturnal species 

 hide during the day in the same places frequented 

 by the flies and would then be easy prey for 

 them. 



Life History. — Tsetse flies differ from all 

 others of their family in their remarkable manner 

 of reproduction. Not only do they not lay eggs, 

 but the single developing larva is retained within 

 the body, being nourished by special glands on 

 the walls of the uterus. The larva is full grown 

 and occupies practically the entire swollen abdo- 

 men of the mother before it is born. The proc- 

 ess of giving birth to the larva is very rapid, 

 occupying only a very few minutes. As soon as 

 born another larva begins its development, etc. 

 In Glossina palpalis the first larva is born three or four weeks after 

 mating, immediately after emergence from the pupal case, and 

 another is born every nine or ten days providing the temperature 

 is around 75° or 80° F. and food is abundant. 

 There is little data on the total number of young 

 produced, but in one captive fly eight larvae were 

 produced in 13 weeks and only one egg was found 

 left in the body. Pregnant flies often abort when 

 disturbed and cases are known in which the larvae 

 pupated within the abdomen of the mother, to 

 the destruction of both of them. 



The larva (Fig. 233) is a yellowish white crea- 

 FiG. 234. Pupa ^m-g about one-third of an inch in length, with 



of tsetse fly, G/o.s- . ,. i i i i i-i 



sina palpalis. X a pair of dark knoblike protuberances at the pos- 



5. (Partly after ^gj-^or end of the body between which are the res- 

 Austen.) . . . T 1 1 • 1 • !/• • 



piratory openings. It immediately hides itselt m 

 loose soil or under dead leaves in the place where it was deposited 

 by the mother, and transforms to a pupa (Fig. 234). The pupa- 

 tion takes place in the course of less than half an hour in soft dry 

 ground, and in an hour to an hour and a half in hard or damp 

 ground. After pupation the color begins to turn dark and in 

 four hours the pupa is a dark purplish brown color. It is shaped 



