Treatment of Mosquito Larvae and Adults with Radioactive Phosphorus123

Abstract

Aedes adults were tagged either by permitting them to feed on a rat that had been given a solution of radioactive P intraperit. or by feeding hungry adults sugar soln. containing P32. Gross dissection of adults showed that the abdomens contained 41 to 72% of the radioactivity and the legs 4 to 9%. Culex tarsalis, Aedes sticticus and A. vexans adults reared from 2d and 4th instar larvae placed in water containing P32 all contained applicable amts. of radioactivity. A dosage of 0.05 [mu]c of radioactive phosphoric acid per ml. gave avg. readings of 41,147 cpm (counts per minute) for females and 39,072 for males and when the dosage was reduced to 0.0001 [mu]c per ml. readings were 522 and 399 cpm, respectively. A concn. of approx. 0.0001 [MU]c of radioactive P32 may be a practical dosage for treatment of larvae in flight studies of adults.