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Biting cycles and parity of the mosquito Mansonia (Mansonioides) uniformis (Theo.) in Ceylon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. A. Samarawickrema
W. A. Samarawickrema
Affiliation:
Medical Research Institute, Colombo, Ceylon
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Extract

Two series of all-night hourly catches of Mansonia (Mansonioides) uniformis (Theo.) on the verandah of a house and at an outdoor open site with man as bait and a third series at the same outdoor site with calf as bait were carried out during 1960–62 on an open mixed rubber and coconut estate overlooking a swamp, in Aggona, a village three miles south-east of Colombo. The physiological age of the mosquitos captured was determined by a count of the follicular relies in the ovarioles.

The mosquitos were active only at night; the biting cycle on human bait showed two peaks in both situations—a well-defined early peak and an irregular late peak on the verandah and a minor early peak and a larger lat peak at the outdoor site. In the verandah series the two oldest age-groups, 2-parous and 3-parous females, showed more activity during the second peak, while in the outdoor series the oldest age-groups were most active during the early peak, a result suggesting a difference in behaviour on the part of the older females compared with the overall population in both situations. M. uniformis was strongly attracted to cattle bait; much activity was recorded at this bait site during the first four hours of the night.

Age-composition of the populations in all three series was found to be similar irrespective of the site and bait used. The results were more or less constant from month to month in spite of weather changes. Daily mortality of M. uniformis taken at the two baits was similar and showed consistency from month to month.

A large proportion (73.4%) of females returned to feed directly from oviposition.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , November 1968 , pp. 299 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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