Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T04:37:24.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Malaria Problem in Mauritius: the Bionomics Of Mauritian Anophelines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. F. Jepson
Affiliation:
Entomologist, Department of Agriculture, Mauritius,
A. Moutia
Affiliation:
Assistant Entomologist, Department of Agriculture, Mauritius,
C. Courtois
Affiliation:
Technical Assistant, Malaria Control Unit, Mauritius.

Extract

1. A sketch is given of the Malaria Control Organisation in Service areas in Mauritius with a summarised history of malaria work in the Island since the first epidemic in 1865.

2. Keys to Mauritian Anophelines and their larvae with notes on their field recognition characters are followed by data on the distribution of adult Anophelines in the Colony and their relation to malaria intensity in different areas. A. melas appears to be absent from coastal swamps.

3. The influence of a number of environmental factors is discussed. It is concluded that temperature is an important limiting factor generally in winter and perennially in the highlands (above 1,000 ft.), but that the flushing action of heavy rains and probably the precipitation of food supply by colloidal iron moving under high rainfall conditions (over 100 ins.) from ferrugineous lavas both play their part in the natural control of A. funestus and A. gambiae.

The behaviour of A. gambiae with respect to temperature is expressed by an area enclosed by two symmetrical catenary curves, that illustrate well the adverse influence on development of low temperatures normally occurring in winter on the coast and all the year round in the residential uplands above 1,000 ft. The thermal death point of A. gambiae larvae is about 42°C. and that of A. funestus 40°C. and the lower limit of larval activity is 16·5°C. A. gambiae develops most rapidly at an estimated temperature of about 37°C.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1947

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

Craig, N. (1934). Bull. Sug. Res. Sta. Maur. no. 4, 35 pp., 10 tables, 1 map.Google Scholar
Daruty De Grandpré, A. & d'Emmerez De Charmoy, D. (1900). Les moustiques, anatomie et biologie. Contribution à l'étude des Culicidées.… Port Louis, 59 pp., 5 pls.Google Scholar
Evans, A. M. (1938). Mosquitoes of the Ethiopian Region. II.—Anophelini. London, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.).Google Scholar
Gebert, S. (1936). Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 30, pp. 255257, 2 figs.Google Scholar
Gebert, S.. (1937). Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 31, pp. 115117.Google Scholar
Gebert, S. (1939). Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 33, pp. 353356, 1 fig.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbins, E. G. (1936). Ann. trop. Med. Parasit., 30, pp. 275282.Google Scholar
Janisch, E. (1931). Z. Morph. Oekol. Tiere, 22, p. 287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jepson, W. F. (1945). Final Report to Admiralty Superintending Engineer on Malaria Works in Mauritius (unpublished).Google Scholar
MacGregor, M. E. (1924). Report on the Anophelinae of Mauritius. 48 pp., 1 fldg. map, 24 pls.Google Scholar
MacGregor, M. E.. (1927). Mosquito surveys. London, Ballière, Tindall & Cox, 282 pp., 3 maps 59 figs.Google Scholar
Maeracks, H. (1933). Arb. biol. Reichsanst., 20, pp. 347390, 18 figs.Google Scholar
Maeracks, H. (1927). Mosquito Surveys. A handbook for anti-malarial and anti-mosquito field workers. London, Wellcome Bur. Sci. Res. 282 pp., 59 figs., 3 maps.Google Scholar
Ribbands, C. R. (1944). Bull. ent. Res., 35, pp. 271295, 5 tabs., 8 figs.Google Scholar
Ross, Sir Ronald. (1908). Report on the Prevention of Malaria in Mauritius.Google Scholar
Vaughan, R. E. & Wiehe, P. O. (1937). J. Ecol., 25, pp. 289343, 10 pls., 2 maps, 12 figs.Google Scholar