Large-scale rearing of tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) in the absence of a living host

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Abstract
A successful technique for feeding colonies of Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. and G. austeni Newst. in the absence of living hosts is described. Insects are fed through membranes made of silicone rubber or of agar and Parafilm, overlying blood pools poured onto grooved glass plates. The diet employed is fresh pig blood, collected at slaughter, and aseptic procedures are adopted at every stage of diet preparation and presentation. The reproductive performance of these in vitro-fed colonies in terms of adult survival, fecundity, and offspring size, is the same as that of colonies fed on living hosts, when compared over a long period of time. The fact that the technique is successful when used with a diet of pig blood, but is not successful when used with cow blood prepared in the same way, suggests that the technique per se is adequate to elicit a normal feeding response from these tsetse species. The nature of the nutritional superiority of pig blood is not understood.