Abstract
Groups of house flies have been injected with a low dose of crude venom of the spider Latrodectus mactans tredecimguttatus (Rossi), and reinjected at different time intervals with a challenge dose of venom. Mortality at 24 hours after the second injection has been compared with that of flies treated with a first injection of buffer solution followed by a challenge dose of venom. Inoculated house flies developed within 24 hours a low but significant degree of immunity against the venom. This immunity appeared to increase between 24 and 48 hours and to last for 96 hours. Latrodectus venom thus represents the second animal toxin (the first being scorpion venom) showing a protective immunological response in insects. Musca domestica (Linnaeus) is the first species of the order Diptera showing protective immunity following inoculation with a sublethal dose of an antigen.
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