Development of effective visual targets for controlling tsetse flies in the Central Africa Republic

Initial studies will concentrate on the neurophysiological responses of the tsetse flies to the different components in the light spectrum to determine their sensitivity across the spectral range, using electroretinography recordings from the fly retina. This will be the first time such a study will have been undertaken on riverine group tsetse. Once this has been established, behavioural studies on the tsetse’s responses to objects of different sizes and shapes in the most stimulating colour will be made in a flight chamber, to identify the most efficient shape and record the characteristic three-dimensional flight approach induced by visual stimuli.