Artificial feeding of West African Simulium damnosum Theobald s.l. (Diptera: Simuliidae) through membranes and their subsequent fecundity
Wirtz, H.P.; Raybould, J.N.
Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Official Organ of Deutsche Tropenmedizinische Gesellschaft and of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit 37(2): 143-148
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0177-2392 PMID: 3749739 Document Number: 280937
During a study in Ghana, females of Simulium damnosum s.l. were offered blood through artificial membranes using a feeding apparatus in which the blood was kept warm and stirred. Feeding rates and egg production were compared using a synthetic silicone or a latex membrane and 10 different kinds of blood with or without added adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Feeding rates were usually higher with silicone than with latex membranes. Wild flies captured just before starting to feed on man usually fed better than females that had emerged from pupae in the laboratory. Wild-caught flies showed best results when deep-frozen human blood with EDTA or fresh human blood from a blood bank was offered through a silicone membrane. When a latex membrane was used, they fed best on 'instant' and fresh human blood from a blood bank. Laboratory-emerged females which were offered only blood through the silicone membrane fed best on freeze-dried pig blood or on human blood with edetic acid, both with ATP. Optimal feeding rates were obtained with day-old flies and membrane temperatures of 37.0-39.5 degrees C. Real fecundity depended on blood-meal volume: females that took a complete meal on man produced an average of 377 eggs each. Since a higher percentage of flies that were fed through membranes took small or medium-sized blood-meals, their fecundity was correspondingly lower (295 eggs/female). Simulium damnosum s.l. females were offered blood through artificial membranes using a feeding apparatus in which the blood is kept warm and stirred. Feeding rates and egg production were compared using a synthetic silicone or a latex membrane and ten different kinds of blood with and without added adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Feeding rates were usually higher with silicone than with latex membranes. Wild flies captured just before starting to feed on man, usually fed better than females that had emerged from pupae in the laboratory. Wild-caught flies showed best results when deep-frozen human blood with EDTA or fresh human blood from a blood bank was offered through a silicone membrane. Using a latex membrane they fed best on "instant" and fresh human blood from a blood bank. Laboratory-emerged females which were offered blood only through the silicone membrane, fed best on freeze-dried porcine blood or on human blood with EDTA, both with ATP. Optimal feeding rates were obtained with one day old flies and membrane temperatures between 37.0 and 39.5 degrees C.