Further Studies of the Food of Tsetse Flies

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Abstract
Collections of gorged Glossina pallidipes were made for 9 months on a straight transect across an evergreen thicket mass in western Kenya. Three vegetation phases were distinguished forest clumps, dense secondary dry forest and candelabrum forest (dominated by Euphorbia bilocularis). Gorged specimens of the rarer G. brevipalpis were also collected. The gut contents were identified serologically. At all times Bovidae (mainly bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus) were the most important group of hosts of both tsetse species. The variety of mammals fed upon by G. pallidipes was greatest in the most open vegetation phase, forest clumps; in some months the proportion of bushbuck feeds from this phase fell to less than 50%. In the phase candelabrum forest tsetse were not found in the cool season; this is attributed to absence of food hosts at this time. In an overall comparison G. brevipalpis was found to make more use of Suidae than did G. pallidipes.

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