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title: "What the sources say about the Tsetse Fly | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "39 claims from the Tsetse Fly profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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# What the sources say about the Tsetse Fly (*Glossina morsitans*)

> 39 claims from the Tsetse Fly profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Tsetse Fly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tsetse-fly/)

## Fraumann (2003). Glossina morsitans. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Glossina_morsitans/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A blood-drinking fly that makes milk and gives birth to a larva nearly as big as she is. | 'Milk' glands from the mother's reproductive tract provide nourishment during this time ... the female deposits the larva, which is nearly as big as the adult into a suitable environment of loose soil (note: tagline; 'blood-drinking' is the Food Habits line: Both sexes feed exclusively on blood) |
| Savanna and shaded woodland in the lowlands of Africa | can be found in savannah during the wet season, but in the dry season prefers shaded wooded areas. They always remain in the lowlands (note: stats.habitat; Africa from 'is found in Africa') |
| Feeds its young on "milk" from glands inside the mother | "Milk" glands from the mother's reproductive tract provide nourishment during this time. (note: stats.superpower) |
| Not Evaluated | IUCN Red List No special status (note: stats.conservationStatus. Prefetch (2026-10-11) found no Red List assessment DOI for Glossina morsitans: GBIF's copy of the Red List holds no category for the name and Crossref has no assessment. ADW lists no IUCN status. The body makes no status claim, so no IUCN reference is cited.) |
| A female Glossina morsitans does not lay eggs. | after fertilization the embryo is kept within the females uterus. While still in utero, the embryo develops into the first juvenile stage and hatches. (note: species scope: ADW is the G. morsitans account; the embryo hatches inside the uterus) |
| Animal Diversity Web says the embryo stays in her uterus, hatches there and is fed by "milk" glands in her reproductive tract. | While still in utero, the embryo develops into the first juvenile stage and hatches. The larvae pass through the first, second, and third larval instars ... "Milk" glands from the mother's reproductive tract provide nourishment during this time. |
| The larva (the young, grub-like stage) is nearly as big as the adult when she drops it onto loose soil. | the female deposits the larva, which is nearly as big as the adult into a suitable environment of loose soil. |
| It has about an hour to dig in, then turns black and forms a hard case called a puparium. | the larva has about an hour in which to dig underground. Once under the soil the larva turns black and forms a puparium that hardens over the next four days. |
| Pupae stay underground for about a month. | Pupae remain underground for about a month. |
| The mother must take three blood meals to raise one young. | The adult female must have three blood meals in order to sustain a single progeny. |
| An adult G. morsitans is 7.5 to 14 millimetres long and brownish grey. | Glossina morsitans is 7.5 to 14 millimeters long and is brownish gray in color. |
| Both sexes feed exclusively on blood. | Both sexes feed exclusively on blood and produce anticoagulants to prevent clotting. |
| They make anticoagulants, chemicals that stop clotting. | produce anticoagulants to prevent clotting |
| The fly feeds in the daytime, is drawn to moving objects and reacts to the carbon dioxide animals breathe out. | is solely a daytime feeder which is attracted to moving objects visually, but also has an acute sense of smell. They respond to CO2 produced by the exhalation of animals. |
| It is active only between 18 and 32 degrees Celsius. | are diurnal, and only active between the temperatures of 18-32°C. |
| Animal Diversity Web places the species in Africa, in savanna in the wet season and shaded woodland in the dry season, always in the lowlands. | is found in Africa ... can be found in savannah during the wet season, but in the dry season prefers shaded wooded areas. They always remain in the lowlands |

## Chigusa et al. (1997). Relationship between longevity and body weight in Glossina morsitans morsitans. Medical Entomology and Zoology.

https://doi.org/10.7601/mez.48.91

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In a lab colony of the subspecies G. m. morsitans, one-day-old adults averaged 20.4 milligrams for males and 22.0 for females. | 1-day-old male adults, 20.4mg. The equivalent weights of females were 29.9,26.3 and 22.0mg, respectively. |
| At 25 degrees Celsius, males in that colony lived 145.9 days on average, with a range of 9 to 241 days, and females lived 131.1 days, with a range of 4 to 208. | temperature 25±1℃ ... The length of life of male adults (n=93) was 145.9±51.4 days, (m±SD) range 9 to 241 days, and that of female adults (n=73) was 131.1±58.3,range 4 to 208 days. |
| Those are lab-reared flies, not wild ones. | The fiies were subsequently reared in the insectary of the Department of Parasitology, Aichi Medical University (note: colony from ICIPE, Nairobi, reared in a university insectary at 25 degrees; quote keeps the source OCR "fiies") |

## International Glossina Genome Initiative et al. (2014). Genome Sequence of the Tsetse Fly ( Glossina morsitans ): Vector of African Trypanosomiasis. Science.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1249656

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Scientists who sequenced the tsetse genome report that flies of the genus Glossina take a blood meal almost equivalent to their own weight, and quickly pass out the excess water. | Glossina takes a blood meal that is almost equivalent to its own weight, and excess water is rapidly excreted by means of the Aquaporin family of transport proteins (note: genus scope stated in the sentence) |
| Tsetse flies pass on the parasites that cause sleeping sickness in people and nagana in livestock. | African trypanosomiasis is transmitted by the tsetse fly to humans (sleeping sickness) and livestock (nagana) throughout sub-Saharan Africa |
| In 2014 the genome team put the number of people at risk of infection in sub-Saharan Africa at an estimated 70 million. | throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 70 million people at risk of infection (note: dated to the 2014 source rather than stated as a current figure) |
| The tsetse genome team reports that females can go through milk production 8 to 10 times in their lives without signs that their reproduction is wearing out. | females can undergo this process 8 to 10 times during their life spans without evidence of reproductive senescence (note: the process is lactation; the sentence is about tsetse females) |
| The team sequenced the subspecies G. m. morsitans, but states this of tsetse females in general. | we describe the sequence and annotation of the 366-megabase Glossina morsitans morsitans genome |
| A tsetse fly takes a blood meal almost as heavy as itself, then quickly passes out the extra water | Glossina takes a blood meal that is almost equivalent to its own weight, and excess water is rapidly excreted (note: vibe.reason) |
| dangerLevel: Deadly | Human infections are fatal if untreated (note: stats.dangerLevel; the fly bites, the trypanosome it transmits kills) |

## Weiss, Wang & Aksoy (2011). Tsetse Immune System Maturation Requires the Presence of Obligate Symbionts in Larvae. PLoS Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000619

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In lab work on G. morsitans, flies raised without the bacterium Wigglesworthia glossinidia as larvae grew into adults that were sterile and highly susceptible to E. coli infections of the body cavity. | Such offspring give rise to adults that exhibit a largely normal phenotype, with the exception being that they are reproductively sterile. Our results indicate that when reared under normal environmental conditions Gmm Wgm − adults are also immuno-compromised and highly susceptible to hemocoelic E. coli infections (note: Gmm is G. m. morsitans, the lab strain; the study text says 'the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans') |
| Normal adults of the same age resisted them. | age-matched wild-type individuals are refractory |

## Attardo et al. (2008). Analysis of milk gland structure and function in Glossina morsitans: Milk protein production, symbiont populations and fecundity. Journal of Insect Physiology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2008.06.008

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A study of the milk gland in Glossina morsitans calls it the tissue that passes nutrients and partner bacteria from mother to offspring. | the transfer of essential nutrients and bacterial symbionts from mother to intrauterine offspring. The tissue mediating this transfer is the milk gland. |

## Clausen et al. (1998). Host preferences of tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) based on bloodmeal identifications. Medical and Veterinary Entomology.

https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2915.1998.00097.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Blood, mainly from warthogs and other pig-family animals | Glossina morsitans ssp. fed mainly on Suidae (mainly warthog) (note: stats.diet; Suidae is the pig family) |
| A survey tested the blood in the guts of 29,245 wild-caught flies of eleven Glossina species. | identify the origin of vertebrate blood in the guts of 29 245 wild-caught flies of eleven Glossina species |
| The morsitans flies in it fed mainly on members of the pig family, mostly warthog. | Glossina morsitans ssp. fed mainly on Suidae (mainly warthog) |
| In some areas hippopotamus or ruminants (cud-chewing animals such as cattle) replaced the warthog. | in some areas hippopotamus or ruminants replaced the warthog as the main host |

## Muyobela et al. (2025). Developing a national atlas to support the progressive control of tsetse-transmitted animal trypanosomosis in Zambia. Parasites & Vectors.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-07086-2

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| in south-eastern Zambia | The south-eastern part of the country is infested with G. m. morsitans |
| In Zambia, researchers call G. morsitans the major vector, or carrier, of both the animal and the human forms of the disease. | G. morsitans is the major vector of both AAT and HAT in Zambia (note: AAT is animal African trypanosomosis and HAT human African trypanosomiasis, both defined in the paper) |
| Zambian researchers list six species and subspecies. | Six species and subspecies of the tsetse fly have been identified in these belts |
| Glossina morsitans is the most widely spread of them. | Glossina morsitans is the most widely distributed species, covering the entire infested range of the country |
| The subspecies G. m. morsitans lives in the south-east, in the Luangwa-Lunsemfwa and Lower Zambezi tsetse belts, and G. m. centralis in the north-west. | The south-eastern part of the country is infested with G. m. morsitans (i.e. in the Luangwa-Lunsemfwa and Lower Zambezi tsetse belts). In contrast, G. m. centralis occurs in the north-western part of the country |

## Shereni et al. (2021). An atlas of tsetse and animal African trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe. Parasites & Vectors.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04555-8

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In atlases of Zimbabwe and Zambia, the subspecies G. m. morsitans turned up in Zimbabwe's north and northwest and in south-eastern Zambia. | Glossina morsitans morsitans (17.3%) were the two tsetse species recorded in the north and northwest parts of the country. (note: Zimbabwe half; the Zambia half is the next claim) |