The laboratory maintenance and rearing of Simulium damnosum complex species as a research tool for the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in the Vola River Basin.

The laboratory maintenance and rearing of Stimulium damnosum complex species and the cytotaxonomic determination of reared larvae, has been useful to OCP in the following fields of investigation: 1. Species identification of reinvading females. 2. Distribution of biting populations of S. damnosum complex species. 3. Identification of eggs and small larvae found within the OCP area. 4. Host preferences of species within the complex. 5. Vector potential of S. damnosum complex species for Onchocerca volvulus and O. ochengi. 6. Provision of identified material for morphological investigation. The technique of indirect adult identification using reared larvae, may eventually by largely superseded by progress in morphological taxonomy.