Glossina

A genus of bloodsucking Diptera (tsetse flies) confined to Africa; they serve as vectors of the pathogenic trypanosomes that cause various forms of African sleeping sickness in humans and in domestic and wild animals. [G. glossa, tongue]

- G. morsitans a species originally thought to be the sole transmitter of Trypanosoma brucei brucei, the cause of nagana in central Africa; this species transmits this disease in some regions, but it is not the sole or even always the principal transmitting agent; it is the vector of T. brucei rhodesiense, one of the pathogenic agents of East African, Rhodesian, or acute sleeping sickness.

- G. pallidipes a species that is the principal transmitter of nagana; it also transmits Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense.

- G. palpalis a species of G. that transmits Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, one of the pathogenic parasites of West African, Gambian, or chronic sleeping sickness.

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glos·si·na -'sī-nə, -'sē- n

1) cap an African genus of dipteran flies that have a long slender sharp proboscis and joint antennae bearing feathery appendages and that comprise the tsetse flies

2) any fly of the genus Glossina: TSETSE FLY

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n.

see tsetse

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Glos·si·na (glŏ-siґnə) the tsetse flies, a genus of biting flies of the family Muscidae. It is divided into three subgenera, Nemorhina (palpalis or riverine group), Glossina (morsitans or savannah group), and Austenina (fusca or forest group). The groups transmit pathogenic trypanosomes by their bites. The palpalis group transmits mainly Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, causing West African trypanosomiasis; the morsitans group transmits mainly T. brucei rhodesiense, causing East African trypanosomiasis; and the fusca group transmits trypanosomes pathogenic to livestock.