Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T14:48:24.102Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Mosquitoes of Bwamba County, Uganda. VI.—Mosquito breeding in Plant Axils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

A. J. Haddow
A. J. Haddow
Affiliation:
From the Yellow Fever Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda.†
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. A study of mosquito breeding in plant axils was carried out in Bwamba County, an area with much heavy forest in the extreme west of Uganda. Attention was directed mainly to Aëdes (Stegomyia) simpsoni, a known vector of human yellow fever in Bwamba.

2. The various plants studied are described.

3. The results of preliminary surveys are discussed. These confirmed that, as far as mosquito breeding is concerned, the most important plants in Bwamba are the lowland colocasia (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), the “gonja” variety of cultivated banana and the pineapple (Ananas comosus). It was shown that A. simpsoni is the commonest axil-dwelling larva in the inhabited lowland areas, and that it occurs in widely different types of lowland country. Records are given of the occurrence of larvae of Aëdes (Stegomyia) aegypti in plant axils.

4. A survey of 12 different kinds of plants is described, and it is shown that the larval populations depend to a considerable extent on the amounts of water retained by the axils of the various plants concerned. In Bwamba, medium-sized axils with a capacity of 4 to 8 cc. appear to be the most favourable. Certain plants which yielded large numbers of larvae—such as the wild banana (Musa sp.)—were not found to harbour A. simpsoni. Apparently this is due to the fact that they are confined to forest and mountain areas, where A. simpsoni is scarce or absent.

5. A monthly survey of Xanthosoma axils, carried out over a period of 12 months, showed that A. simpsoni larvae were continually present and that the fluctuations in larval population were dependent on growth and harvesting of the plants rather than on rainfall.

6. Scrapings from dry Xanthosoma axils, taken during a short period of drought, were placed in bowls of water in mosquito-proof cages. Larvae of A. simpsoni and Harpagomyia taeniarostris hatched from this material in 2 to 3 days.

7. Temperature measurements in a Xanthosoma axil showed that the water therein was cooler than the surrounding air and also that the axil temperature was remarkably equable.

8. Systematic collections of pupae from Xanthosoma axils showed that the mosquito output (which cannot be gauged directly from the population of larvae) is high and constant. It is estimated that a plot of 500 plants of this species may, under favourable conditions, produce something like 5,000 A. simpsoni (2,000 females) per month.

The influence of predatory larvae (Eretmapodites spp.) on the populations of other species is thought to be considerable.

9. The fauna of plant axils, apart from mosquito larvae, is described briefly.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , September 1948 , pp. 185 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1948

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buxton, P. A. & Hopkins, G. H. E. (1925). Race suicide in Stegomyia.—Bull, ent. Res., 16, pp. 151–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buxton, P. A. & Hopkins, G. H. E.. (1927). Researches in Polynesia and Melanesia. Parts I–IV.—Mem. Lond. Sch. Hyg. trop. Med., no. 1. London.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. H. (1926). Mosquitos bred from dry material taken from holes in trees.—Bull. ent. Res., 17, pp. 183–187.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. H.. (1927). Tree-holes and mosquito breeding in West Africa.—Bull. ent. Res., 18, pp. 139–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbins, E. G. (1942). On the habits and breeding-places of Aëdes (Stegomyia) simpsoni Theobald in Uganda.—Ann. trop. Med. Parasit., 36, pp. 151–160.Google Scholar
Haddow, A. J. (1945 a). On the mosquitoes of Bwamba County, Uganda. I. Description of Bwamba with special reference to mosquito ecology.—Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 115, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
Haddow, A. J.. (1945 b). The mosquitoes of Bwamba County, Uganda. II. Biting activity with special reference to the influence of microclimate.—Bull. ent. Res., 36, pp. 33–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J.. (1945 c). The mosquitoes of Bwamba County, Uganda. III. The vertical distribution of mosquitoes in a banana plantation and the biting cycle of Aëdes (Stegomyia) simpsoni Theo.—Bull. ent. Res., 36, pp. 297–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J.. (1946). The mosquitoes of Bwamba County, Uganda. IV. Studies on the genus Eretmapodites Theobald.—Bull. ent. Res., 37, pp. 57–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddow, A. J., Smithburn, K. C., Mahaffy, A. F. & Bugher, J. C. (1947). Monkeys in relation to yellow fever in Bwamba County, Uganda.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 40, pp. 677–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hopkins, G. H. E. (1936). Mosquitoes of the Ethiopian Region. I. Larval bionomics of mosquitoes and taxonomy of Culicine larvae.—London, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.).Google Scholar
Mahaffy, A. F., Smithburn, K. C., Jacobs, H. R., & Gillett, J. D. (1942). Yellow fever in western Uganda.—Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 36, pp. 9–20.Google Scholar
Shannon, R. C. (1931). The environment and behaviour of some Brazilian mosquitoes.—Proc. ent. Soc. Wash., 33, pp. 1–27.Google Scholar
Smithburn, K. C. & Haddow, A. J. (1946). Isolation of yellow fever virus from African mosquitoes.—Amer. J. trop. Med., 26, pp. 261–271.Google Scholar
Teesdale, C. (1941). Pineapple and banana plants as sources of Aëdes mosquitoes.—E. Afr. med. J., 18, pp. 260–267.Google Scholar
Tothill, J. D. Ed. (1940). Agriculture in Uganda.—London, Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar