The tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans, is a fly (order Diptera) that eats blood from animals, including humans.
The tsetse fly can carry the protozoa human pathogenTrypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness. Tsetse flies have specialized cells that contain bacterial endosymbionts.
Since females only mate once in their short life, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been introducing irradiated males into the environment. Since this process sterilizes the male, greater numbers of sterilized males have led to a drop in reproductive rates, which has also led to a drop in Sleeping sickness amongst humans. See Sterile Atomic Fly.
Tsetse also have a long proboscis which extends directly forward and is attached by a distinct bulb to the bottom of their head.
Tsetse have been extensively studied because of their medical, veterinary, and economic importance, because the flies can be raised in a laboratory, and because the flies are relatively large, facilitating their analysis.
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