Glossina morsitans
"Glossina morsitans" is variously classified into the subgenus "Glossina" or as the name species of a "morsitans" species group. Note that this includes both subspecies "G. m. centralis" and "G. m. morsitans", and "G. pallidipes".
"G. m. submorsitans" is a common substitute for "G. m. morsitans", or rarely as a full species "G. submorsitans".
"G.m.s." is further subdivided into a "G. m. s. ugandensis". About long. long. long. long. Adults are . "G. morsitans" is occasionally distinguishable from congeners by the unaided eye - there are differences in gross coloration - if it can be observed resting. It is more readily distinguishable by microscopic examination. Flight muscles are primarily powered by proline, which is synthesized from fatty acids mobilised out of the fat body. Proline is so efficiently used in muscle mitochondria because they are specialised towards proline oxidising enzymes, and away from enzymes using fatty acids and pyruvate. "G. morsitans" is found heavily throughout East Africa and Equatorial Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. "G. morsitans" feeds upon warthogs, oxen, buffaloes, kudus, and humans. About 6% of "G. m. s."s bloodmeals come from birds (excluding ostriches). A sequence was made available in 2014. Among other results this reveals that "G. morsitans"s genome has incorporated some of its "Wolbachia" symbiont's genome (see also below). The sense of taste of "G. m. m." lacks the sense of sweetness - which may be due to its exclusively hematophagous diet. "G. morsitans" carries 3 Ago2s according to data compiled by Mongelli & Saleh 2016 and Dowling et al 2016 finds 2 Ago3s while Mongelli & Saleh's compilation shows 3. "G. m. m." is in obligate symbiosis with "Wigglesworthia glossinidia" and "Wolbachia". Without "Wigglesworthia", "G. m. m." is sterile, and without "Wolbachia" they are reproductively incompatible with normal flies. Trypanosomiasis transmitted by "G. morsitans" and other tsetse species is one of the largest economic problems Africa faces. It has radically altered the cattle agroeconomy across the middle of Africa, severely shrinking the cattle pastoral lifestyle by shrinking the extent of safe grazing lands. This has left about of otherwise usable land devoid of cattle. Raising cattle in the manner common in 1963, this would have allowed for another 125,000,000 head - more than doubling the 114,000,000 being raised at the time.
Taxonomy
Glossina morsitans is a species of tsetse fly in the genus "Glossina".