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Dry-Season Survival of Some Plant-Cavity Breeding Mosquitoes in Liberia1

1962; Oxford University Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/aesa/55.5.521

1938-2901

Lloyd E. Rozeboom, Robert W. Burgess,

Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences

Mechanisms of survival by mosquitoes of an unusually severe dry season in Liberia were studied by setting out rubber cups as artificial trap breeding places; by converting dry tree holes to traps by filling them with water; by rearing larvae from debris taken from dry tree holes; and by washing out axils of taro and banana trees. The following species were active in the adult stage: Culex (Culex) nebulosus Theobald, C. (C.) macfiei Edwards, C. (Neoculex) wigglessworthi Edwards, C. (Lutsia) tigripes Grandpré and Charmay, Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti Linnaeus, and Eretmapodites chrysogaster Graham. A few adults of Mansonia (Coquillettidia) annetti Theobald and M. (C.) metallica Theobald were found resting in underbrush. Survival in the egg stage in dry tree holes was effected by Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti, A. (S.) apicoargenteus Theobald, A. (finlaya) ingrami Edwards, A. (F.) longipalpis Grünberg, and apparently also by Culex macfiei. No doubt Aedes (S.) africamis Theobald also survives in tree holes in the egg stage, although eggs were recovered only from material which apparently came from a dry coconut husk. Eggs of Aedes (S.) simpsoni Theobald were recovered from dry axils of taro. An important mechanism of dryseason survival exhibited by A. (S.) simpsoni was the ability of the larvae to live and develop, apparently over extended periods of time, deep in the axils of banana trees. Although there is no free water, the opposing surfaces of the leaf base and trunk probably are kept moist by dew and fogs. Larvae of A. aegypti were also recovered from these axils.