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Studies of the Responses of the female Aëdes mosquito. Part V. The Role of Visual Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

W. L. Sippell  and
A. W. A. Brown
W. L. Sippell
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
A. W. A. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
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Extract

The role of visual factors in the attractiveness of bodies to adult A. aegypti was investigated by exposing deer-mice in transparent or opaque, airtight or perforated, plastic containers. The visual factors proved to be roughly equivalent to the airborne emanations in attractiveness, being slightly the more attractive when the mice were normally moving, and the less attractive of the two when the mice were motionless.

The attractiveness of a moving black object was found to be nearly twice that of a stationary one. A deer-mouse immobilised by anaesthesia was roughly one-half as attractive as a normally moving one.

Mirroring surfaces are significantly more attractive than dull ones; a black enamel surface was more attractive than a flat black surface, and a silvered mirror more attractive than a polished metal surface. It was found that enhancement of the attractiveness of a black surface could be obtained by the movement of lines of shadow, not of points of light, across it.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , January 1953 , pp. 567 - 574
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1953

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References

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