Adult Survivorship, Population Density, and Body Size in Sympatric Populations of Aedes triseriatus and Aedes hendersoni (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Ecology of adult Aedes triseriatus (Say) and Aedes hendersoni Cockerell was studied in a beech/maple woods in northern Indiana using mark/recapture methods and isozyme electrophoresis to identify species. Longevity of males and females of both species was the same (range of probability of daily survival, 0.917–0.960). Size had no effect on survival (as determined by mark/recapture of laboratory-reared normally sized and large mosquitoes), but normally sized A. triseriatus females were recaptured at lower rates than large ones. Wild-caught female A. hendersoni were smaller than female A. triseriatus, whereas male A. hendersoni were slightly larger than male A. triseriatus. The two species occurred in the woods in about equal densities; estimates per hectare were 279 male and 294 female A. triseriatus and 251 male and 389 female A. hendersoni. Aging studies showed that the first gonotrophic cycle (from first blood meal to oviposition) lasted 8–14 d for A. triseriatus and ca. 11 d for A. hendersoni. Lower recapture rates for A. hendersoni, compared with A. triseriatus, were probably due to differences in resting and other behaviors.