A second diapause in Wyeomyia smithii: seasonal incidence and maintenance by photoperiod

Abstract

Wyeomyia smithii ordinarily diapauses in the third larval instar, but a second, photoperiodically maintained developmental arrest may occur in the fourth instar. Two years of sampling from a Massachusetts bog revealed that the fourth-instar diapause phenotype is most abundant in the spring after the termination of third-instar diapause, and in the fall when a new overwintering generation of third instars accumulates in the pitcher-plant habitat. Fourth-instar larvae from this population cannot, however, survive the winter. This mortality during winter is apparently balanced by advantages that a second diapause confers upon the mosquito population in the spring.Fourth-instar diapause may be induced from diapausing third-instar larvae in the laboratory by a brief exposure to long days followed by short days, or by a long-term exposure to short days at 25 °C. Continuous exposure to long days readily terminates fourth-instar diapause. The critical photoperiod and number of long days required for the termination of diapause is similar for larvae which diapause in either the third or fourth instar.