Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
A colony of Eretmapodites chrysogaster Grah., sensu stricto, was maintained successfully for over a year without any reinforcement.
Identity of the mosquitos was established by starting the colony from a single batch of eggs laid by a single wild-caught female mosquito, and subsequent examination of the genitalia of the male progeny.
Mating occurred regularly after the first blood-meal of the female. In fact the females would not accept the males until they had started, or had finished, their first blood-meal.
Eggs were laid on the sterilised, water-filled bracts of banana flowers. Moist paper, moist cotton-wool or free water above paper or cotton-wool proved unsatisfactory as egg-laying media.
Larvae fed largely on the substance of the banana bracts on which the eggs had been laid. The banana bract also provided cover and so reduced the incidence of cannibalism among larvae.