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The biologies of Aedes caspius (Pallas) and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) in Dubai

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

M. W. Service
Affiliation:
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Department of Medical Entomology, Liverpool L3 5QA, England
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Abstract

Entomological investigations in Dubai showed that, irrespective of whether they had been fed on water or 10% sugar solution, about 47% of Aedes caspius females matured eggs autogenously during their first ovarian cycle. Several blood-fed females were trapped in cages, and precipitin tests showed that some had fed on birds and camels as well as man.

Absence of autogeny combined with an examination of male terminalia showed that adults of the Culex pipiens complex were in fact Culex quinquefasciatus. The population was unusual because females were not inseminated when kept in cages, and appeared only weakly anthropophagie. CDC light traps and out of door resting cages proved useful in sampling adults. Precipitin tests showed 31.7% to have fed on birds, 7.9% on camels and only 3.2% on humans.

The number of eggs matured by Ae. caspius and Cx. quinquefasciatus were determined, and studies were made on the hatching pattern of Ae. caspius eggs. Larval habitats of Ae. caspius were unusual in having high concentrations of calcium chloride. Breeding places of Cx. quinquefasciatus comprised very polluted waters. Collections of the immature stages allowed the construction of stage-specific age-frequency histograms for both species, and survivorship curves to be plotted.

Résumé

Des études entomologiques á Dubai ont montré qu'environ 47% des femelles d' Aedes caspius maturaient leurs oefs de façon autogène au cours de leur premier cycle ovarien, indépendamment due fait qu'elles aient été nourries avec de l'eau ou une solution sucrée à 10%. Des cages de repos externes ont permis de capturer plusieurs adultes d'Ae. caspius et des tests de precipitines ont montré que le sang ingéré provenait aussi bien d'oiseaux et de chameaux que de l'homme.

L'absence d'autogénie et l'examen de l'appareil copulateur des mâles a montré que les adultes du complexe Culex pipiens étaient en fait des Culex quinquefasciatus. Cette population est inhabituelle car les femelles n'étaient apparamment pas inséminées en captivité et ne semblaient etre que faiblement anthropophagiques. Des pièges lumineux de type CDC et des cages de repos externes ont été utilisées pour la capture des adultes. Les tests de precipitines ont montré que le sang ingéré provenaient d'oiseaux dans 31.7% des cas, de chameaux dans 7.9%, des cas et seulement dans 3.2% des cas de l'homme.

Le nombre d'oeufs matures d'Ae. caspius et de Cx. quinquefasciatus ont été déterminés et le mécanisme d'éclosion des oeufs d'Ae. caspius a été étudié. Les habitats larvaires d'Ae. caspius étaient inhabituels du fait qu'ils présentaient des concentrations élevées de chlorure de calcium. Les sites de developpement de Cx. quinquefasciatus comprenaient des eaux très pollulées. La récolte de stades immatures a permis la construction d'histogrammes de spécificité de stade et de fréquence d'âge pour les deux espèces, et d'effectuer des courbes de survie.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1986

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