Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2005) 19, 442-450

J. Huang, E.D. Walker, P.Y. Giroux, J. Vulule and J.R. Miller (2005)
Ovipositional site selection by Anopheles gambiae: influences of substrate moisture and texture
Medical and Veterinary Entomology 19 (4), 442-450
Abstract: The influence of substrate moisture (hydration) and grain size (texture) on oviposition was quantified in choice tests using Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto Giles (Diptera: Culicidae) laboratory strains and gravid An. gambiae sensu lato from a natural population in Western Kenya. A strong, positive correlation was found between moisture content and the degree of egg-laying, which peaked at saturation with standing water. Soil moisture quantified as surface conductivity, was measured with an electronic leaf-wetness sensor slightly modified from a unit available commercially. Although An. gambiae females were sensitive to measurable differences in substrate moisture, they distributed eggs on both fully hydrated and less hydrated substrates. In contrast, An. gambiae females showed little response to substrate texture: they oviposited with equal frequency on all silica substrates of eight particle size classes, ranging from small pebbles (850 µm diameter) to very fine grains (< 38 µm diameter), when all were moist. Female An. gambiae laid more eggs on dark than white substrates against a light background, but did not discriminate between moist, pulverized black soapstone and moist black Kenyan soil taken from typical An. gambiae larval habitats. We conclude that hydration and visual contrast are critical ovipositional site qualities for An. gambiae, but substrate texture is not.
(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): Juan Huang, James R. Miller

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

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