Host Choice and Feeding Behaviours of Glossina morsitans Offspring Whose Parents Were Fed on Different Host Species

Abstract

The success of any tsetse control program depends on the knowledge of their behaviour. This study assessed the host choice and feeding behaviours of Glossina morsitans siblings whose parents were bloodfed on rabbits, guinea pigs, rodents, and squirrels. Each individual host was placed in a screen cage, which allowed flies to enter through openings on each side. The groups of flies (20 per replicate), which were colour-marked differently based on their parents’ blood meal hosts, were released from the centre of large semi-field cage. The released flies were aspirated after 24 h and then sorted based on their location, feeding status, and parents’ blood meal. A total of 213 flies (72.95% of those recovered) were attracted to the hosts. The numbers of flies attracted to different hosts varied significantly (χ24 = 33.685, p = 0.0001): rodents (n = 80, p = 0.006), rabbits (n = 59, p = 0.331), guinea pigs (n = 49, p = 0.057), and squirrels (n = 25, p = 0.005). The numbers of flies attracted to their parent’s blood meal source varied significantly (χ212 = 56.476, p < 0.001): rabbits (n = 35, 59.32%, p < 0.001), rodents (n = 25, 31.25%, p = 0.043), and guinea pigs (n = 19, 38.78%, p = 0.45). But only 39 flies (18.31% of the total attracted) bloodfed on the hosts, including guinea pigs (n = 10, 25.64%), rodents (n = 23, 58.97%), rabbits (n = 6, 15.38%), and squirrels (n = 0, 0.0%). There was significant variation in the number of flies that fed successively across hosts (χ24 = 49.478, p < 0.001). The findings from this study confirm the presence of differential attractiveness of the hosts to flies and the so-called “Hopkins host selection principle” or “pre-imaginal conditioning”. Therefore, the study attracts the need for detailed investigation on the influence of blood meal sources on tsetse fly siblings’ behaviours across filial generations using small mammals or other large mammal species.