Some effects of mating in female tsetse, Glossina austeni Newst

Abstract

Virgin females of G. austeni were mated at carefully chosen physiological states to determine the effect of mating on ovulation, neurosecretion and blood meal size. The results suggest that ovulation and larviposition are controlled by neurosecretion, and that the release of neurosecretion requires both a mating stimulus and the presence of a mature egg in one of the ovarioles. The mating stimulus was also found to lead to an increase in blood meal size. Unmated female flies do not ovulate and their mature eggs eventually disintegrate. Virgin blood meal sizes remain relatively low.