Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:41:18.948Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of bed nets on feeding by Anopheles gambiae Giles (Diptera: Culicidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

G. R. Port  and
P. F. L. Boreham
G. R. Port
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
P. F. L. Boreham
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the Gambia, bed nets are often used for protection from mosquitoes although some of the nets are often in poor condition. In a village where the most abundant man-biting mosquito was Anopheles gambiae Giles s.s., nets in different condition were compared by assessing the success of mosquitoes in feeding. All the nets tested reduced mosquito feeding, and this reduction correlated with the number and size of holes in the nets. The experiments were conducted in purpose-built huts with verandah traps to sample the mosquito population leaving the hut. Although the majority of males and fed females of A. gambiae remained in the huts each morning, unfed females usually left the huts the same night, probably in search of alternative food sources.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 483 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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

Boreham, P. F. L. & Port, G. R. (1982). The distribution and movement of engorged females of Anopheles gambiae Giles (Diptera: Culicidae) in a Gambian village.—Bull. ent. Res. 72, 489–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, J. H. & Smalley, M. E. (1978). The use of ABO blood groups as markers for mosquito biting studies.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 72, 357–360.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gelfand, H. M. (1955). Anopheles gambiae Giles and Anopheles melas Theobald in a coastal area of Liberia, West Africa.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 49, 508–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muirhead, Thompson R. C. (1948). Studies on Anopheles gambiae and A. melas in and around Lagos.—Bull. ent. Res. 38, 527–558.Google Scholar
Odetoyinbo, J. A. (1969). Preliminary investigation on the use of a light-trap for sampling malaria vectors in The Gambia.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 40, 547–560.Google ScholarPubMed
Port, G. R., Boreham, P. F. L. & Bryan, J. H. (1980). The relationship of host size to feeding by mosquitos of the Anopheles gambiae Giles complex (Diptera: Culicidae).—Bull. ent. Res. 70, 133–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rishikesh, N. & Rosen, P. (1976). Hut entry and exit by Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus in an unsprayed village near Kaduna in northern Nigeria.—Parassitologia 18, 119–124.Google Scholar
Self, L. S. & Pant, C. P. (1968). Parous/nulliparous condition of unfed Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus captured in exit traps.—Mosquito News 28, 62–64.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. (1963). The ecology of the mosquitos of the Northern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria.—Bull. ent. Res. 54, 601–632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (1965). A verandah-trap hut for studying the house-frequenting habits of mosquitos and for assessing insecticides. I.—A description of the verandah-trap hut and of studies on the egress of Anopheles gambiae Giles and Mansonia uniformis (Theo.) from an untreated hut.—Bull. ent. Res. 56, 161–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar