Diel Patterns of Mosquito Activity in a High Arctic Locality: Hazen Camp, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T.

• Published in: The Canadian Entomologist
• Main Author: Corbet, Philip S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1966
• Subjects: Insect Science; Molecular Biology; Physiology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Structural Biology; Arctic; Ellesmere Island; Hazen Camp
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/ent981238-12; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00057564

Abstract Diel patterns of emergence, flight, host-seeking and oviposition have been studied in two mosquitoes, Aedes ( Ochlerotatus ) impiger and A . (O.) nigripes , at Hazen Camp (71° 18′ W., 81° 49′ N.). Diel periodicities were detected in both species for all these activities except flight. Oviposition of A . nigripes shows a well-defined pattern, but otherwise periodicities are evident only as slight and somewhat irregular diel fluctuations. All diel patterns show a maximum near solar noon, and appear to result from a direct (exogenous) response to ambient temperature. The patterns of host-seeking flight, closely similar in both species, are compared with those recorded for Aedes ( Ochlerotatus ) at lower latitudes. Small morning and afternoon peaks at Hazen Camp are seen as vestiges of sunrise and sunset maxima that characterize this periodicity further south.