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Studies on the larval biology of Leptoconops becquaerti (Kieff.) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. R. Linley
J. R. Linley
Affiliation:
Sandfly Research Unit, Ministry of Health, Montego Bay, Jamaica, W.I.*
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Extract

Studies were carried out in Jamaica on the larval biology of Leptoconops becquaerti (Kieff.) in 1962–63.

Larvae were reared on natural breeding sites in chambers constructed from large tins, by methods that are described in detail. The features of the breeding sites are illustrated and briefly discussed.

The developmental period from egg hatching to adult emergence probably occupies four to eight weeks, depending to a certain extent upon temperature and hence on time of year. It is unlikely that the adult stage is ever reached in much less than three weeks under natural conditions. Under experimental conditions, overall survival to the adult stage was frequently greater than 20 per cent., and occasionally over 50 per cent. It is considered that survival in natural populations is probably also quite high.

Larval mortality in the experimental chambers apparently occurred maintly in the first instar, and this probably happens in nature. The results showed a relationship between percentage survival and egg number such that proportionately fewer adults were obtained from chambers with greater numbers of eggs. This was interpreted as being due to progressively more severe starvation of very young larvae in the more crowded chambers.

There was no marked tendency for adults of the more same sex to emerge first in the chambers. The sex ratio among the total of 1,039 adults obtained was 1:1.

In an experiment to investigate the diel rhythm of adult emergence, 71 per cent. of adults of L. becquaerti emerged in the four-hour period of 0300–0700 hr., and a further 27 per cent. appered between 0700–1100 hr. This is earlier than found in Culicoides furcns (Poey) in a previous experiment.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , September 1968 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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References

Davies, J.B. & Linley, J.R. (1965). Observations on the breeding sites of the sandfly Leptoconops becquaerti in the Montego Bay area of Jamaica, with a note on one breeding site in Honduras.—Carib. J. Sci. 5 pp. 117–128.Google Scholar
Davies, J.B. & Linley, J.R. (1966). A standardised flotation method for separating Leptoconops (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and other larvae from sand samples.—Mosquito News. 26 p. 440.Google Scholar
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