Studies on the attraction of Simulium damnosum s.l. (Diptera: Simuliidae) to its hosts. III. Experiments with animal-baited traps.

In the forest zone of the United Republic of Cameroon, a live chicken proved far more attractive to hunting S. damnosum s.l. than did a live sheep; but in the Sudan-savanna zone, a sheep was more attractive than a chicken. It is suggested that the populations of flies in the two areas represented different species of the S. damnosum s.l. complex with different host-finding mechanisms, that in the forest (? S. squamosum) hunting mainly by smell, and that in the Sudan savanna (? S. damnosum s.s.) hunting mainly by sight.