Ovarian development and biting frequency in Anopheles culicifacies Giles in Sri Lanka
Slooff, R.; Herath, P.R.
Tropical and Geographical Medicine 32(4): 306-311
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0041-3232 PMID: 7210169 Document Number: 163295
In order to determine the duration of the gonotrophic cycle in Anopheles culicifacies Giles in Sri Lanka, ovarian development in wild-caught females that had taken a blood-meal in the laboratory was studied and the findings compared with those obtained for wild-caught females that were rebased and recaptured in the same part of the gonotrophic cycle. In those of unknown parity, probable feeding intervals of 1,2 and 3 days (with a mean of 1.7-2.1 days) were found. The release of freshly-fed nullipars bred from larvae produced 2 recaptures, from which it could be concluded that the time required to become parous need not be more than 3 days, and the majority of nulliparous females required more than one blood-meal before completing the first gonotrophic cycle. These results are of importance in assessing the effectiveness of insecticide spraying as an anti-malarial measure in Sri Lanka and possibly in other countries in southern Asia where A. culicifacies is the vector. An equation is given for deriving the mosquito's daily survival rate (p) from the proportion of parous females in biting samples.