Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T21:35:58.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The feeding habits of some West African Culex (Dipt., Culicidae) mosquitoes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. F. Snow  and
P. F. L. Boreham
W. F. Snow
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BNI 9BQ, U.K.
P. F. L. Boreham
Affiliation:
imperial College Field Station, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berks, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The host range and feeding habits of seven species of Culex mosquitoes at Keneba, the Gambia, are described from precipitin tests of blood-meals and from observations on their attraction to calf, man, duck and pigeon baits. Feeding habits were classed nonspecific, mammalian or ornithophilic. Culex thalassius Theo. was non-specific, bloodmeals being identified from mammals (59·5%), birds (38·1%) and reptiles (2·4%). Large numbers were attracted to calf, man, ducks and pigeons. C. tritaeniorhynchus Giles fed almost exclusively on cattle: 17 of 19 blood-meals were identified as from cow. Many specimens were taken at calf, smaller numbers at man, and the few attracted to ducks fed readily. Birds were the main source of blood for C. decens Theo. (54·8%), C. invidiosus Theo. (87·5%), C. nebulosus Theo./cinereus Theo. (93·3%), C. tigripes Grp. & Charm. (98·3%), C. univittatus Theo. (two out of three) and C. weschei Edw. (one out of one). Reptile feeds were recorded for C. decens (14·3%), C. invidiosus (5·0%), C. nebulosus/cinereus (6·7%) and C. univittatus (one out of three). C. invidiosus and C. univittatus were common only at pigeon bait where some 13% fed on the birds.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , February 1973 , pp. 517 - 526
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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

Abonnenc, E. (1956). Le Parc National du Niokolo-Koba. IX Culicidés et autres arthropodes vulnérants.—Mém. Inst. fr. Afr. noire no. 48, 183–196.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. (1967). Ecological studies on Sindbis and West Nile viruses in South Africa.III. Host preferences of mosquitoes as determined by the precipitin test.—S. Afr. J. med. Sci. 32, 34–39.Google ScholarPubMed
Bendell, P. J. E. (1970). Japanese encephalitis in Sarawak: studies on mosquito behaviour in a land Dyak village.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 64, 497–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertram, D. S., McGregor, I. A. & McFadzean, J. A. (1958). Mosquitoes of the colony and protectorate of the Gambia.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 52, 135–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brés, P., Camicas, J. L., Cornet, M., Robin, Y. & Taufflieb, R. (1969). Considérations sur l'épidémiologie des arboviruses au Sénégal.—Bull. Soc. Path. exot. 62, 253–259.Google Scholar
Bruce-Chwatf, L. J., Garrett-Jones, C. & Weitz, B. (1966). Ten years' study (1955–64) of host selection by anopheline mosquitoes.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 35, 405–439.Google Scholar
Christopher, S. & Reuben, R. (1971). Studies on the mosquitoes of North Arcot District, Madras State, India. Part 4.: Host preferences as shown by precipitin tests.—J. med. Ent. 8, 314–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colless, D. H. (1959). Notes on the Culicine mosquitoes of Singapore. VII. Host preferences in relation to the transmission of disease.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 53, 259—267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, G. E. & Philip, C. B. (1931). The identification of the blood-meal in West African mosquitoes by means of the precipitin test. A preliminary report.—Am. J. Hyg. 14, 130–141.Google Scholar
Gelfand, H. M. (1955). Studies on the vectors of Wuchereria bancrofti in Liberia.—Am. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 4, 52–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giglioli, M. E. C. & Thornton, I. (1965). The mangrove swamps of Keneba, Lower Gambia river basin. I. Descriptive notes on the climate, the mangrove swamps and the physical composition of their soils.—J. appl. Ecol. 2, 81–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillies, M. T. & Wilkes, T. J. (1969). A comparison of the range of attraction of animal baits and of carbon dioxide for some West African mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 59, 441–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillies, M. T. & Wilkes, T. J. (1970). The range of attraction of single baits for some West African mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 60, 225–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillies, M. T. & Wilkes, T. J. (1972). The range of attraction of animal baits and carbon dioxide for mosquitoes. Studies in a freshwater area of West Africa.—Bull. ent. Res. 61, 389–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamon, J., Abonnenc, E. & Noël, E. (1955). Contribution à l'étude des Culicidés de I'Ouestdu Sénégal.—Ann. Parasit. hum. comp. 30, 278–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamon, J., Devémy, P., Rickenbach, A. & Causse, G. (1956). Contribution á l'étude des moustiques de la Casamance.—Ann. Parasit. hum. comp. 31, 607–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamon, J., Pichon, G. & Cornet, M. (1971). La transmission du virus amaril en Afrique occidentale. Ecologie, répartition, fréquence et contrôle des vecteurs, et observations concernant lépidémiologie de la fièvre jaune.—Cah. O.R.S.T.O.M. Ent. méd. Parasit. 9, 3–60.Google Scholar
Hamon, J., Sales, S., Coz, J., Ouédraogo, C., Dyemtiouma, A. & Diallo, B. (1964). Observations sur les préférences alimentaires des moustiques de la République de Haute Volta.—Bull. Soc. Path. exot. 57, 1133–1150.Google Scholar
Hopkins, B. (1965). Forest and savanna; an introduction to tropical plant ecology with special reference to West Africa.—100 pp. London, Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hurlbut, H. S. & Weitz, B. (1956). Some observations on the bionomics of the common mosquitoes of the Nile Delta.—Am. J. trop. Med. Hyg. 5, 901–908.Google Scholar
Jupp, P. G. (1971). The taxonomic status of Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) in South Africa.—J. ent. Soc. sth. Afr. 34, 339–357.Google Scholar
Jupp, P. G. & McIntosh, B. M. (1967). Ecological studies on Sindbis and West Nile viruses in South Africa. II. Mosquito bionomics.—S. Afr. J. med. Sci. 32, 15–33.Google Scholar
Kerr, J. A. (1932). Studies on the transmission of experimental yellow fever by Culex thalassius and Mansonia uniformis.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 26, 119–127.Google Scholar
Kerr, J. A. (1933). Studies on the abundance, distribution and feeding habits of some West African mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 24, 493–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, B. M., Jupp, P. G., Dickinson, D. B., McGillivray, G. M. & Sweetnam, J. (1967). Ecological studies on Sindbis and West Nile viruses in South Africa. I. Viral activity as revealed by infection of mosquitoes and sentinel fowls.—S. Afr. J. med. Sci. 32, 1–14.Google ScholarPubMed
Mattingly, P. F. (1949). Studies on West African forest mosquitoes. Part II. The less commonly occurring species.—Bull. ent. Res. 40, 387–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paterson, H. E., Bronsden, P., Levitt, J. & Worth, C. B. (1964). Some culicine mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) at Ndumu, Republic of South Africa. A study of their host preferences and host range.—Med. Proc. 10, 188–192.Google Scholar
Pennington, N. E. & Phelps, C. A. (1968). Identification of the host range of Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquitoes on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands.—J. med. Ent. 5, 483–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Service, M. W. (1963). The ecology of the mosquitos of the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria.—Bull. ent. Res. 54, 601–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Service, M. W. (1964). The attraction of mosquitoes by animal baits in the northern Guinea savannah of Nigeria.—J. ent. Soc. sth. Afr. 27, 29–36.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. (1965). The identification of blood-meals from culicine mosquitos from Northern Nigeria.—Bull. ent. Res. 55, 637–643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, D. I. H., Bowen, E. T. W., Platt, G. S., Way, H., Smith, C. E. G., Peto, S., Kamath, S., Liat, L. B. & Wah, L. T. (1970). Japanese encephalitis in Sarawak: virus isolation in a land Dyak village.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 64, 503–510.Google Scholar
Snow, W. F. (1969). The effect of a reduction in expired carbon dioxide on the attractiveness of human subjects to mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 60, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, A., Knight, K. L. & Starke, H. (1959). A synoptic catalog of the mosquitoes of the world (Diptera, Culicidae).—358 pp. Washington D.C., Entomological Society of America. (Thomas Say Foundation volume VI.)Google Scholar
Weitz, B. (1956). Identification of blood meals of blood-sucking arthropods.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 15, 473–490.Google Scholar