A method of rearing Simulium damnosum Theobald (Diptera; Simuliidae) under artificial conditions.

The Simuliidae have proved particularly difficult to maintain under artificial conditions, and have resisted all attempts at laboratory colonization. Although a number of species have been successfully reared from egg to adult under laboratory conditions in certain northern countries, the problem of rearing African blackflies has been subjected to less intensive investigation. The development of suitable techniques for rearing and maintaining the vectors of human onchocerciasis in the laboratory would facilitate critical work on many aspects of vector biology.The vectors of human onchocerciasis in Africa belong to either the Simulium neavei or the S. damnosum complexes. During the present investigation large numbers of a nonanthropophilic form of S. damnosum were successfully reared from egg to adult under artificial conditions described in this paper. The method needs to be tested, however, with the anthropophilic forms within the S. damnosum complex responsible for transmission of onchocerciasis.