SEASONAL EMERGENCE AND ACTIVITY OF MOSQUITOES (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) IN A HIGH-ARCTIC LOCALITY

• Published in: The Canadian Entomologist
• Main Authors: Corbet, Philip S., Danks, H. V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1973
• Subjects: Arctic; Ellesmere Island; Hazen Camp
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent105837-6; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00022185

Abstract The emergence and adult activity of Aedes ( Ochlerotatus ) impiger and A . ( O .) nigripes during 1962–66 at Hazen Camp (81°49′ N., 71°18′ W.), Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., are described. The greater part of seasonal emergence (assayed by emergence traps) took place from shallow ponds during a period of 7–10 days, usually in early July. Emergence of A . impiger began about 3 days earlier than that of A . nigripes , and peak emergence of the two species was separated by about 4 days; males of both species normally emerged 1 or 2 days before the females. From each pond 80% of annual emergence usually occurred within 3 or 4 days. Pond-to-pond differences were correlated closely with water temperature, but delayed emergence occurred at the end of the emergence period in temporary ponds, as the ponds became dry. Year-to-year temperature differences altered both the seasonal position and the duration of emergence in a given pond by up to 10 days. The flight activity of adults (assayed by a Visual Attraction Trap and a Malaise Trap) was greatest shortly after the period of greatest emergence, but adults, especially females, were caught for more than a month after emergence had ended. Biting by females continued throughout this period, but swarming of males was more abbreviated, especially in A . impiger . The number of adults trapped fluctuated from day to day according to weather: flight was inhibited when maximum screen air temperatures were below about 5 °C. The interval required for ovarian maturation was about 9 days in both species, and some females completed at least three gonotrophic cycles. The successive cycles were detected in the population by analysis of sweep-net catches, the proportion of gravid females caught in the traps being affected considerably by weather. Successive gonotrophic cycles were well synchronized, like emergence, in A . nigripes retention of eggs apparently obscured such synchrony in A . impiger . Feeding on nectar (of the flower Dryas integrifolia ) was apparently needed by ...