Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:11:39.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Affiliation:
Medical Research Institute, Colombo, Ceylon

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
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antonipulle, P., David, H. V. & Karunaratne, M. D. R. (1958). Biology and control of Taeniorhynchus (Mansonioides) uniformis Theobald, the chief vector of rural filariasis in Ceylon.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 19 pp. 285295.Google ScholarPubMed
Bertram, D. S. & Samarawickrema, W. A. (1958). Age determination for individual Mansonioides mosquitoes.—Nature, Lond. 182 no. 4633 pp. 444446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, H. F. (1948). Records of filaria infections in mosquitoes in Ceylon.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 42 pp. 312321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, H. F. (1950). The genus Taeniorhynchus Lynch Arribalzaga (Diptera, Culicidae) with special reference to the bionomics and relation to disease of the species occurring in Ceylon.—Ceylon J. Sci. (B) 24 pp. 126.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1961). Entomological studies from a high tower in Mpanga Forest, Uganda. VIII. The age-composition of biting mosquito populations according to time and level.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 113 pp. 336345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1963). The reliability of parasitic water-mites (Hydracarina) as indicators of physiological age in mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae).—Entomologia exp. appl. 6 pp. 215233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1964). The time elapsing between oviposition and biting in the mosquito Mansonia (Coquillettidia) fuscopennata (Theobald).—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 39 pp. 108110.Google Scholar
Dissanaike, A. S. & Niles, W. J. (1967). On two infective filarial larvae in Mansonia crassipes with a note on other infective larvae in wild caught mosquitoes in Ceylon.—J. Helminth. 41 pp. 291298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillett, J. D. (1957). Age analysis in the biting cycle of the mosquito Taeniorhynchus (Mansonioides) africanus Theobald, based on the presence of parasitic mites.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 51 pp. 151158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillies, M. T. & Wilkes, T. J. (1965). A study of the age-composition of populations of Anopheles gambiae Giles and A. funestus Giles in north-eastern Tanzania.—Bull. ent. Res. 56 pp. 237262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J. (1954). Studies on the biting-habits of African mosquitos. An appraisal of methods employed, with special reference to the twenty-four-hour catch.—Bull. ent. Res. 45 pp. 199242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J. (1960). Studies on the biting habits and medical importance of East African mosquitos in the genus Aëdes. I.—Subgenera Aëdimorphus, Banksinella and Dunnius.—Bull. ent. Res. 50 pp. 759779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J., Corbet, P. S., Gillett, J. D., Dirmhirn, I., Jackson, T. H. E. & Brown, K. W. (1961). Entomological studies from a high tower in Mpanga Forest, Uganda. I–XII.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 113 pp. 249368.Google Scholar
Haddow, A. J. & Ssenkubuge, Y. (1965). Entomological studies from a high steel tower in Zika Forest, Uganda. Part I. The biting activity of mosquitoes and Tabanids as shown by twenty-four-hour catches.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 117 pp. 215243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jayewickreme, S. H. (1953). Nocturnal mating in Taeniorhynchus (Mansonioides) uniformis Theobald.—Nature, Lond. 171 p. 577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polovodova, V. P. (1949). The determination of physiological age of female Anopheles, by the number of gonotrophic cycles completed. [In Russian.]Medskaya Parazit. 18 pp. 352355.Google Scholar
Samarawickrema, W. A. (1962). Changes in the ovariole of Mansonia (Mansonioides) mosquitoes in relation to age determination.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 56 pp. 110126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samarawickrema, W. A. (1967). A study of the age-composition of natural populations of Culex pipiens fatigans Wiedemann in relation to the transmission of filariasis due to Wuchereria bancrofti Cobbold in Ceylon.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 37 pp. 117137.Google Scholar
Wharton, R. H. (1951). The habits of adult mosquitoes in Malaya. II.—Observations on culicines in window-trap huts and at cattle sheds.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 45 pp. 155160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wharton, R. H. (1959). Age determination in Mansonioides mosquitoes.—Nature, Lond. 184 no. 4689 pp. 830831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wharton, R. H. (1962). The biology of Mansonia mosquitoes in relation to the transmission of filariasis in Malaya.—Bull. Inst. med. Res. Malaya [N.S.] no. 11, 114 pp.Google Scholar
Williams, C. B. (1937). The use of logarithms in the interpretation of certain entomological problems.—Ann. appl. Biol. 24 pp. 404414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar