Subtle periodicity of pupation in rapidly developing mosquitos: with particular reference to Aedes vittatus and Aedes aegypti.

Aedes vittatus and Ae. aegypti are important vectors of yellow fever and other arbovirus diseases in Africa and they complete many generations, through all developmental stages, in a single year. Recent studies on Drosophila have offered precise techniques for analysing periodicities in populations of single developmental events in individuals. If the variability of pupation times is low, periodicities may not be recognizable by an obviously polymodal pattern in a single synchronized population. Analysis of 8 synchronized populations of Ae. vittatus and Ae. aegypti, evenly spaced through 24 hours, provided a sensitive method of recognizing even subtle periodicities in rapidly developing mosquitos. By this means Ae. vittatus has been shown to exhibit a weak diurnal periodicity of pupation while a strain of Ae. aegypti showed not the slightest periodicity of pupation under the same light-dark cycle. The authors stress that periodicity of emergence or pupation in mosquitos can have important consequences for epidemiology and vector control and should be verified for each vector species for which control measures are envisaged.