Journal of Insect Behavior (2012) 25, 494-503

Megan L. Fritz, Edward D. Walker and James R. Miller (2012)
Egg placement by Anopheles gambiae (Diptera:Culicidae) as influenced by resting surface slope and enclosure
Journal of Insect Behavior 25 (5), 494-503
Abstract: In these experiments, oviposition by laboratory-reared Anopheles gambiae s.s. was as likely to occur from a vertical perch, as from a horizontal sitting position on a substrate of moist mud or open water. Tall cylinders with moist, dark walls provided an enclosed vertical resting surface from which An. gambiae deposited eggs. Similar numbers of eggs were deposited in these cylinders as on dark and moist horizontally-positioned ovipositional substrates. Likewise, An. gambiae oviposited equally from a vertical perch among emergent surrogate reeds vs. sitting horizontally on mud. Open ovipositional resources with exposed resting surfaces presenting 45°, 90°, and 135° angles relative to the cage floor received fewer eggs than a horizontally positioned, moist and dark ovipositional dish, even though more An. gambiae females settled on these angled resting surfaces post-oviposition. We conclude that vertical resting sites are adequate perches from which oviposition can occur if they provide high humidity and the paramount dark and wet ovipositional cues for An. gambiae oviposition.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): James R. Miller

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anopheles gambiae