In laboratory ovipositional tests conducted on the Kisumu strain of Anopheles gambiae, females deposited twice as many eggs on filter papers wetted with field-collected (Kisumu, Kenya area) water from small temporary puddles sustaining An. gambiae larvae than on papers wetted with spring water or water from more permanent An. funestus-inhabited pools. Furthermore, water resuspending the odorous residue left concentrated by complete evaporation of an Anopheles puddle was more than 20 fold more stimulatory to oviposition than standard spring water used in normal culturing of this insect. A major part of this stimulatory effect appears to be associated with several volatile bicyclic hydrocarbons commonly associated with cyanobacteria and actinomycetes. This paper will report these chemical structures and specific activities of the most active compounds as well as speculate on how active compounds might be used in management of this most important vector.
Species 1: Diptera Culicidae Anopheles gambiae (malaria mosquito)
Keywords: malaria, behavior
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA