Journal of Medical Entomology (1995) 32, 549-553

James J. Becnel, Juan J. Garcia and Margaret A. Johnson (1995)
Edhazardia aedis (Microspora: Culicosporidae) effects on the reproductive capacity of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)
Journal of Medical Entomology 32 (4), 549-553
Abstract: The influence of the microsporidium Edhazardia aedis (Kudo) on the survival and reproduction of its mosquito host, Aedes aegypti (L.), was studied in the laboratory. Survival, fecundity, egg hatch, and percentage of emergence for 4 gonotrophic cycles were compared for control and infected mosquitoes. Control females oviposited an average of 123.1 eggs over 4 gonotrophic cycles, 86.1% of which hatched, whereas infected females laid an average of 38.0 eggs with a 69.3% hatch. Emergence in progeny of infected female Ae. aegypti was significantly less than for control mosquitoes in all gonotrophic cycles. The reproductive capacity (R₀) for control and infected adults was 168.4 and 4.1, respectively, representing a decrease of 98.2%. Overall infection levels in progeny of infected females was 95.7%, of which 46.6% were lethal, larval infections. Infected female survivors were capable of initiating infections in F₂ progeny. Wing length, often used as an indicator of fitness, was not significantly different between infected and control adults.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): James J. Becnel, Juan José Garcia

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes aegypti
Edhazardia aedis (entomopathogen)	Aedes aegypti