Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:04:45.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Study of Predators of Mosquito Larvae and Pupae with a Radio-active Tracer1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

W. F. Baldwin
Affiliation:
Entomology Laboratory, Belleville, Ontario
H. G. James
Affiliation:
Entomology Laboratory, Belleville, Ontario
H. E. Welch
Affiliation:
Entomology Laboratory, Belleville, Ontario

Extract

The importance of predators in the natural control of mosquitoes has been suggested by a number of workers. Comprehensive reviews have been presented by Hinman (1934) and Gerberich (1946). The conclusions are open to some question, however, since the investigations were confined for the most part to studies in laboratory aquaria. These environments create conditions such as crowding, absence of prey shelter, and lack of alternative prey, which prevent an analysis of predation in terms of field conditions. An accurate assessment of predation in nature requires a technique to identify predators that have consumed prey. This is a report on an attempt to analyse the predator-prey relationships of animals in a natural mosquito pool in a woodland swamp near Chatterton, in Hastings County, Ontario, in April and May, 1953, by means of a radioactive tracer.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1955

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

Baldwin, W. F., H. E., Welch, and D., Riordan. In preparation. Some notes on the uptake of radio-phosphorus by mosquito larvae.Google Scholar
Bishop, F. C., and Hart, R. C.. 1931. Notes on some natural enemies of the mosquito in Colorado. J. New York Ent. Soc. 39: 151157.Google Scholar
Brooke, M. M., and Proske, H. O.. 1946. Precipitin test for determining natural insect predators of immature mosquitoes. J. Nat. Malaria Soc. 5: 4556.Google Scholar
Downe, A. E. R., and West, A. S.. 1954. Progress in the use of the precipitin test in entomological studies. Canadian Ent. 86: 181184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerberich, J. B. 1946. An annotated bibliography of papers relating to the control of mosquitoes by the use of fish. Amer. Midl. Nat. 36: 87131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, R. R., Downe, A. E. R., MacLellan, C. R., and West, A. S.. 1953. Evaluation of insect predator-prey relationships by precipitin test studies. Mosquito News 13: 199204.Google Scholar
Hinman, E. H. 1934. Predators of the Culicidae (mosquitoes). I. The predators of larvae and pupae, exclusive of fish. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 37: 129134.Google Scholar
Jenkins, D. W., and Hassett, C. C.. 1950. Radioisotopes in entomology. Nucleonics 6: 514.Google Scholar
Ross, H. H. 1944. The caddis flies, or Trichoptera, of Illinois. Illinois Nat. Hist. Surv. Bull. 23.Google Scholar
Twinn, C. R. 1931. Observations on some aquatic animal and plant enemies of mosquitoes. Canadian Ent. 63: 5161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, A. S. 1950. The precipitin test as an entomological tool. Canadian Ent. 82: 241244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar