Background and Objectives: Knowledge about the movement of adult mosquito vectors in endemic and epidemic areas is valuable for understanding disease transmission dynamics providing a phenomenon of the behaviour, biology, demography, ethology and patterns of disease transmission.Methods: With this respect, the dispersal range of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus had been conducted based on mark-release-recapture method in the campus periphery of Dayanand Anglo Vedic Post Graduate College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, in the month of June 2015.Results: Aedes recaptured from various distances consist of 21.21% within 20 m, 45.45% within 50 m and 72.72% within 80 m distance from the release point. However, mean dispersion distances of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus were found to be 31.78 m and 97.36 m respectively. The R 2 value was found higher in case of Ae. aegypti (0.6795) than Ae. albopictus (0.3597), indicating that Ae. albopictus dispersed more than Ae. aegypti. Using the non-parametric test, Mann-Whitney test for two independent samples, the results showed there is no significant difference (p ≤0.05) of flight range of the two species (z=−0.7181, p=0.47152 ). Interpretation and Conclusion:Less recapture rate of male than female justified the fact that mosquitoes will be forced to fly greater distances than they normally would if released at a point distance from any of the enumerated ovipositing items. From the present study, it was suggested that adulticiding should be intensified up to 100 m in and around the periphery of the reported dengue incidences for a week. Busy roads or unshaded areas may serve as barriers to movement of Aedes species and thus water holding containers should be targeted for more intensive adulticiding.

The nesting activity, life cycle, and brood ball morphometry of the dung beetle Oniticellus cinctus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) were studied under laboratory conditions for the first time in India.  The females made a brood chamber within the dung mass provided, wherein they made brood balls to lay eggs.  The life cycle includes egg, larva (three instars), pupa, and adult stages.  The total duration for the development was about one month.  The study found that there was a significant difference present in the brood ball diameter (except in the first and second instars) and brood ball weight (except in the second instar and pupa) of the six life cycle stages.  It was also found that brood ball weight and diameter have a significant positive correlation as well as a linear relationship.

The present study focused on developing the scenario of the room temperature effect on the development of two distinct butterfly species, Danaus chrysippus and Junonia iphita . Temperature required for development of final instar larvae of D . chrysippus (25.9°C) was much higher than J. iphita (19.09°C); whereas in contrast to that in prepupation stages J. iphita (8.21°C) acquired at much higher temperature than D . chrysippus (7.93°C). In case of chrysalis stages D . chrysippus required much higher temperature in comparison to J. iphita (26.8°C). In the study the pupation stages is merged with the chrysalis stage. The completion of chrysalis stages was much lower in D . chrysippus (average 03 days) than J. iphita (average 6.25 days). The present study furnished that development rate was greatly accelerated with thermal threshold roaming around room temperature. However in D . chrysippus thermal threshold scenario stands static as in the present study all the specimens were reported dead in the cocoon stages providing a keynote information about the temperature manipulation on two distinct species which can be utilized as grass root level for successful conservation management.

In the recent past, several outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases in Dehradun city make it necessary for a comprehensive understanding of man-vector contacts, disease transmission and determination of appropriate resting sites for adult mosquitoes. The study was conducted within the periphery of Dehradun city in Doon valley, Uttarakhand state, India consisting of eight (08) locations namely Sahaspur, Premnagar, Raipur, Karanpur, Sahastradhara, Dudhli, Doiwala and Rani Pokhri with the objective to analyze and assess the seasonal prevalence and host choice of the mosquitoes with special reference to Aedes species. Among the eight locations of the current study, Raipur registered the highest mosquito abundance (17%) trailed by Sahaspur (16%) and Karanpur (15%). A low abundance of mosquitoes was registered conjointly from Doiwala and Rani Pokhri areas (9% from each area). In these areas, the profile plots of the 2-way ANOVA displayed the highest variation for the data collected from human habitations followed by bovine sheds, whereas the lowest recorded variation was from the poultry. With regards to seasonal prevalence, the highest mosquito abundance was registered during the monsoon followed by the post-monsoon. In provender analysis, a total of 1912 blood meals were collected for antibody test among which 1851 were found positive, with the highest reaction with human antisera (57.75%), followed by bovine antisera (21.34%) and pigs antisera (4.97%). Ae. aegyptihad the highest Anthropophilic Index (A.I.) with 68.78%, followed by Ae. albopictus (64.89%) and Ae. vittatus (55.55%). However, Human Blood Predominance (H.B.P.) and Pure Human Blood Pervasiveness (P.H.B.P.) were found highest for Ae. albopictus with values 0.43 and 0.44 respectively. The results also show the seasonal prevalence and feeding habits of these vectors. This study would be helpful in formulating season-wise strategies for the control of Aedes vector mosquitoes in different eco-epidemiological situations.

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