Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T05:34:05.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Flight periodicities and vertical distribution of Aedes cantons (Mg.), Ae. geniculatus (Ol.), Anopheles plumbeus Steph. and Culex pipiens L. (Dipt., Culicidae) in southern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. W. Service
M. W. Service
Affiliation:
The Nature Conservancy, Monks Wood Experimental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

After preliminary collections with suction traps at heights of 30 and 135 cm had shown that most mosquitoes were caught in the lower trap, suction trap catches were made for three years from about April to November in a wooded area in southern England. Flight periodicities of females of Aedes cantans (Mg.) and Ae. geniculatus (Ol.) and of both sexes of Anopheles plumbeus Steph. and Culex pipiens L. were determined by traps incorporating automatic segregating devices. In all species maximum flight activity was between 19.00–20.00 h GMT. The biting cycles of the first three species were similar to their general flight patterns. Mean hourly densities of all four species were calculated from the suction trap catches. Collections were made with traps placed at five different heights (23–223 cm) in 1968 and at eight heights (23–550 cm) in 1969 and 1970. In most species there was a well defined and rapid decline in aerial density of both sexes with increasing height, but more unfed females and males of Culex pipiens L. and females of Culiseta morsitans (Theo.) were caught in the highest trap. From about mid-August onwards, when adults of Culex pipiens were searching for hibernation sites, both males and females with fat reserves were commonest in the lowest trap. The slopes of the regression lines of log. density on log. height were calculated separately for Ae. cantans and C. pipiens, and for all adults combined for five less common species. In all catches, except those of C. pipiens, unfed females predominated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , June 1971 , pp. 639 - 651
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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

Bailey, S. F., Eliason, D. A. & Hoffmann, B. L. (1965). Flight and dispersal of the mosquito Culex tarsalis Coquillett in the Sacramento valley of California.—Hilgardia 37, 73–113.Google Scholar
Bellamy, R. E. & Reeves, W. C. (1952). A portable mosquito bait-trap.—Mosquito News 12, 256–258.Google Scholar
Burgess, L. & Haufe, W. C. (1960). Stratification of some prairie and forest mosquitoes in the lower air.—Mosquito News 20, 341–346.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1961). Entomological studies from a high tower in Mpanga Forest, Uganda. VI. Nocturnal flight activity of Culicidae and Tabanidae as indicated by light-traps.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 113, 301–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1964). Nocturnal flight activity of sylvan Culicidae and Tabanidae (Diptera) as indicated by light-traps: a further study.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 39, 53–67.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. & Haddow, A. J. (1961). Observations on nocturnal flight activity of some African Culicidae (Diptera).—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 36, 113–118.Google Scholar
Glick, P. A. (1939). The distribution of insects, spiders, and mites in the air.—Tech. Bull. U.S. Dep. Agric. no. 673, 150 pp.Google Scholar
Glick, P. A. & Noble, L. W. (1961). Airborne movement of the pink bollworm and other arthropods.—Tec/i. Bull. U.S. Dep. Agric. Agr. Res. Serv. no. 1255, 20 pp.Google Scholar
Goma, L. K. H. (1965). The flight activity of some East African mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae). 1. Studies on a high steel tower in Zika Forest, Uganda.—Bull. ent. Res. 56, 17–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haddow, A. J. (1961). Entomological studies from a high tower in Mpanga Forest, Uganda. VII. The biting behaviour of mosquitoes and tabanids.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 113, 315–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J., Gillett, J. D. & Corbet, P. S. (1961). Observations on the oviposition cycle of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus). V.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 55, 343–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haeger, J. S. (1955). The non-blood feeding habits of Aedes taeniorhynchus (Diptera, Culicidae) on Sanibel Island, Florida.—Mosquito News 15, 21–26.Google Scholar
Harding, J. P. (1949). The use of probability paper for the graphical analysis of polymodal frequency distributions.—/. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 28, 141–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, C. G. (1957). The distribution of insects in the air and the empirical relation of density to height.—J. Anim. Ecol. 26. 479–494.Google Scholar
Lewis, T. & Taylor, L. R. (1965). Diurnal periodicity of flight by insects.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 116, 393–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, P. F. (1949). Studies on West African forest mosquitos Part II. The less commonly occurring species.—Bull. ent. Res. 40, 387–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, P. F. (1951). Culex (Culex) torrentium Martini, a mosquito new to Great Britain.—Nature, Lond. 168, 172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, E. G. (1959). Mosquito collections by light traps at various heights above ground.—Proc. 27th ann. Conf. Calif. Mosq. Control Ass., 61–63.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E. T. & Nielsen, H. T. (1958). Observations on mosquitoes in Iraq.—Ent. Meddr. 28, 282–321.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. (1968). The taxonomy and biology of two sympatric sibling species of Culex, C. pipiens and C. torrentium (Diptera, Culicidae).—J. Zool. 156, 313–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Service, M. W. (1969a). The use of insect suction traps for sampling mosquitoes.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 63, 656–663.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Service, M. W. (1969b). Observations on the ecology of some British mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 59, 161–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Service, M. W. (1969c). The use of traps in sampling mosquito populations.—Entomologia exp. appl. 12, 403–412.Google Scholar
Service, M. W. (1971). Feeding behaviour and host preference of British mosquitoes.—Bull. ent. Res. 60, 653–661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snow, W. E. & Pickard, E. (1957). Correlation of vertical and horizontal flight activity of Mansonia perturbans with reference to marked changes in light intensity (Diptera, Culicidae).—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 50, 306–311.Google Scholar
Syrjamaki, J. (1960). Preliminary observations on the daily rhythm of biting activity of some Aedes species (Dipt., Culicidae).—Suom. hydnt. Aikak. 26, 92–97.Google Scholar