Nectar feeding by the early-spring mosquito Aedes provocans.

Nectar feeding by males and females of the mosquito Aedes provocans was studied at a site near Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Canada plum, Prunus nigra, and especially pin cherry, P. pensylvanica, bloomed contemporaneously with the emergence of Ae. provocans and were important nectar sources for adult mosquitoes during their first week of life. Blossoms of P. pensylvanica shielded for 24 h from foragers produced an average of 0.14 mg of sugar (approximately 2.3J). This nectar was avidly sought by both sexes of Ae. provocans; > 97% of the blossoms were visited by mosquitoes in the first few days of blooming. Young adult mosquitoes were found on blossoms at all hours of the day and night; feeding on P. nigra was strongly eocrepuscular, whereas on P. pensylvanica feeding was much less strongly periodic. Adults foraged for nectar in an energy-conserving, pedestrian strategy, devoting 56% (females) and 68% (males) of their time on blossoms to nectar feeding during foraging bouts that lasted a median of 5.3 min. Both sexes sought nectar soon after emergence--males before they had completed hypopygial rotation or swarmed, and females before mating or host seeking. Female Ae. provocans sought nectar in all stages of oogenesis, but primarily at the initiation of a gonotrophic cycle. Energy stores in the crop averaged 18J per female, with a distribution that depended on gonotrophic age and parity.

Nectar sources and age structure in a population of Aedes provocans (Diptera: Culicidae).

Gonotrophic-age structure of a population of Aedes provocans (Walker) and nectar sources used by adults were studied for 2 yr at a field site near Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Females emerged during a short period, and aging of the population was highly synchronous. Complete parity of the population was achieved within about 17 d in 1978 and 27 d in 1979. Some females completed as many as four gonotrophic cycles. This synchronous pattern of population aging is compared with patterns in other species of snow-melt Aedes, which typically age much more gradually. The pattern of synchronous aging permitted estimation of daily mortality rates from an index of population size derived from human-bait catches; peaks in the biting index were related to each gonotrophic cycle in the population. Nectar sources for adults were ranked according to abundance and the extent to which they were used by Ae. provocans, permitting a coarse, semiquantitative estimate of preferences. Ae. provocans obtained nectar from the extrafloral nectaries of one species and the floral nectaries of 19 species of angiosperms. Shrubs and trees, especially of the Rosaceae (primarily species of Prunus), were particularly important as nectar sources and bloomed concurrently with the appearance of nulliparous females. Sharp declines in the population of Ae. provocans were associated with the cessation of blooming of these plant species. It is hypothesized that the highly synchronous pattern of gonotrophic aging in Ae. provocans was attributable, in part, to the ready availability of nectar sources and bloodmeal hosts near breeding sites.

New self-marking device for dispersal studies of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae).

An effective and inexpensive device is described for marking newly emerged black flies with fluorescent dust. Survival of marked adults of Simulium venustum s.l. and Stegopterna mutata s.l. did not differ significantly from unmarked individuals over a 5-day period. Marked individuals were attracted to human hosts in landing biting tests, and the portions of the self-marking trap lying just above the water surface did not appear to significantly hamper black fly emergence success.