Effect of food on immature development, consumption rate, and relative growth rate of Toxorhynchites splendens (Diptera: Culicidae), a predator of container breeding mosquitoes

Abstract

Food utilization by the larvae of Toxorhynchites splendens (Wiedemann) was studied in the laboratory by offering larvae of Aedes aegypti Linnaeus, Anopheles stephensi (Liston), and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say). Quantitative analyses of data indicated that immature development was significantly faster with increase in food availability. The regression analysis showed that the degrees of the relationship between immature duration (Id) and food availability were higher when offered early instars of prey (first and second instars) than late instars. Consumption rate (Cr) of the predator increased with increase in food availability and this relationship was highly significant when larvae of An. stephensi were offered as food. Consumption rate to food level decreased with increase in the age class of the prey. There was a significant negative correlation between Id and Cr. This aspect helps to increase population turnover of T. splendens in a shorter period when the prey is abundant. Conversely, the predator compensated the loss in daily food intake at low food level by extending Id thereby attains the minimum threshold pupal weight for adult emergence. There was an increase in the relative growth rate (RGR) of the predator when An. stephensi was offered as prey and this was related to the high protein content of the prey per body weight. There was a positive correlation between Cr and RGR. This adaptive life characteristic strategy of this predator is useful for mass-rearing for large scale field release programmes in the control of container breeding mosquitoes is discussed

Larval food quantity affects development time, survival and adult biological traits that influence the vectorial capacity of Anopheles darlingi under laboratory conditions

“…Generally, the development time decreased with increasing food (Figure 1). This result agrees with similar studies of other mosquito species, eg, Anopheles stephennsi [32], A. aegypti [9,33], Toxorhynchites splendens [10], Anopheles gambiae [34] and An. quadrimaculatus [35] where food availability varied over time.…”

“…darlingi [25], An. stephensi [32], A. aegypti [9], T. Splendens [10], Anopheles arabiensis [5,43], An. gambiae [34] and An.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that food availability affects larval development [6,9,10], adult emergence, sexual maturation, fecundity, survival [11], body size [6,12] and nutrient reserves [13]. …”

Microorganism-Based Larval Diets Affect Mosquito Development, Size and Nutritional Reserves in the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

“…Food deprivation can have several carry-over effects on mosquito life. A longer development time under conditions of food insufficiency has been observed before (Tun-Lin et al, 2000; Arrivillaga and Barrera, 2004; Dominic et al, 2005; Vantaux et al, 2016; Aznar et al, 2018), with mosquito larva that take longer time to reach pupa stage (Telang et al, 2007; Levi et al, 2014; Banerjee et al, 2015). An extended larval stage is generally associated with an increased risk of mortality as a consequence of predation, breeding site instability and human interference (Padmanabha et al, 2011).…”

The silver cyprinid <i> Rastrineobola argentea</i> as the main diet source for rearing <i>Anopheles arabiensis</i> mosquitoes

“…The mosquitoes were reared following standard techniques (Dominic et al, 2005). The adults were offered 10% sucrose solution soaked in cotton pads daily and placed on top of the cages, as a source of energy.…”