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Field experiments with a wind tunnel on the flight speed of some west African mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. T. Gillies  and
T. J. Wilkes
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Abstract

An open wind tunnel, down which air was blown from over a bait animal, was used in the field in the Gambia to measure the flight speed of host-seeking mosquitoes. Insects were trapped on an electrocuting grid fitted halfway up the tunnel. As the speed of air movement through the electrocuting grid was increased from 0·5 m/s, catches of Mansonia spp. fell off steeply, reaching negligible levels above 1·4 m/s. At air speeds lower than 0·5 m/s, catches at the grid were greatly reduced. Similar results were obtained for Anopheles ziemanni Griinb. and other species of Anopheles. It is concluded that the maximum flight speed of hostseeking females of all these species was in the range 1·4–1·8 m/s.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , March 1981 , pp. 65 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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