Insects · Diptera · Glossinidae

Tsetse Fly

Glossina morsitans

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

Glossina morsitans is a tsetse fly of the genus Glossina. It is one of the main vectors of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in the savannas of Africa.

Lifespan

3 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

Fun facts

GeneralIt carries sleeping sickness; the female gives birth to fully developed larvae, one at a time.
It is viviparous: it lays no eggs but gestates a single larva inside the uterus and feeds it on a milky secretion produced by a specialised gland, with proteins analogous to those of mammalian milk.
That strategy gives it a very low fecundity — between eight and ten offspring in a lifetime, against the hundreds of a mosquito — and that is precisely what makes it vulnerable to population control.
It is the only vector of the African trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness in people and nagana in livestock.
The larva is born already mature and burrows immediately to pupate; the female chooses the site with great care, because her whole output for that cycle depends on the decision.

Skeleton type: Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)
Habitat & environment: Wooded savannah and gallery forest
Gestation / incubation: Each larva develops in the uterus for about 9 or 10 days
Litter / clutch size: A single larva per cycle, between 8 and 10 over the female's lifetime

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossina_morsitans