Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:39:50.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CHANGES IN MOSQUITO FLIGHT ASSOCIATED WITH NATURAL CHANGES IN POLARIZED LIGHT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

W. G. Wellington
W. G. Wellington
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Science and Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Diurnal activity of Aedes and Culex spp. was observed near Banff, Alta., and Hope, B.C., when naturally polarized light was present, reduced, or absent in relatively open habitats. Resting mosquitoes attacked as soon as they were approached closely, whether or not polarized light was present. In contrast, mosquitoes made long, roving flights only when there was polarized light overhead. Roving flight stopped whenever zenith polarization was disrupted by passing clouds or by the unpolarized glare surrounding the sun. As overhead polarization is most intense near sunrise and sunset, it could be employed then by mosquitoes travelling to and from feeding or oviposition sites.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 106 , Issue 9 , September 1974 , pp. 941 - 948
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1974

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

Baylor, E. R. and Smith, F. E.. 1953. The orientation of Cladocera to polarized light. Am. Nat. 87: 97–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bidlingmayer, W. L. 1971. Mosquito flight paths in relation to environment. I. Illumination levels, orientation, and resting areas. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 64: 1121–1131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, A. N. 1963. The physiology of mosquitoes. Macmillan, New York. ix + 393 pp.Google Scholar
Gillett, J. D. 1971. Mosquitos. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. xiii + 274 pp.Google Scholar
Haddow, A. J. 1956. Observations on the biting-cycle of African mosquitoes in the genus Eretmapodites Theobald. Bull. ent. Res. 46: 761–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J. and Gillett, J. D.. 1958. Laboratory observations on the oviposition-cycle in the mosquito, Taeniorhynchus (Coquillettidia) fuscoppenatus Theobald. Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 52: 320–325.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. G. 1969. Migration and dispersal of insects by flight. Methuen, London. xxii + 763 pp.Google Scholar
Kalmus, H. 1958. Responses of insects to polarized light in the presence of dark reflecting surfaces. Nature, Lond. 182: 1526–1527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmus, H. and Hocking, B.. 1960. Behaviour of Aedes mosquitoes in relation to blood-feeding and repellents. Ent. exp. appl. 3: 1–26.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. 1939. The visual responses of flying mosquitoes. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond.(A) 109: 221–242.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. 1969. The use of insect suction traps for sampling mosquitoes. Trans. Roy. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 63: 656–663.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. 1971 a. Flight periodicities and vertical distribution of Aedes cantans (Mg.), Ae. geniculatus (01.), Anopheles plumbeus Steph. and Culex pipiens L. (Dipt., Culicidae) in southern England. Bull. ent. Res. 60: 639–651.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. 1971 b. The daytime distribution of mosquitoes resting in vegetation. J. med. Ent. 8: 271–278.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. 1973. Flight activities of mosquitoes with emphasis on host seeking behaviour, pp. 125–132. In Biting fly control and environmental quality. Proceedings of a Symposium at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 16–18, 1972. DR 217, Defence Research Board of Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Snow, W. E. and Pickard, E.. 1957. Correlation of vertical and horizontal flight activity of Mansonia perturbans with reference to marked changes in light intensity. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 50: 306–311.Google Scholar
Tanimoto, R. C. 1971. Introductory survey of adult mosquitoes in the Yukon-Kushkokwim Delta of Alaska. Mosquito News 31: 544–551.Google Scholar
Verkhovskaya, I. A. 1940. Effect of polarized light on phototaxis. Byull. Mosk. o-va Isp. Prip., Otd. Biol. 49: 101–113.Google Scholar
(In Russian.) Described in Mazokhin-Porshnyakov, G. A. 1969. Insect vision. Plenum Press, New York. xiv + 306 pp.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G. 1953. Motor responses evoked by the dorsal ocelli of Sarcophaga aldrichi Parker, and the orientation of the fly to plane polarized light. Nature, Lond. 172: 1177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellington, W. G. 1955. Solar heat and plane polarized light versus the light compass reaction in the orientation of insects on the ground. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 48: 67–76.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G. 1965. The use of cloud patterns to outline areas with different climates during population studies. Can Ent. 97: 617–631.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G. 1974. Bumblebee ocelli and navigation at dusk. Science 183: 550–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed