Abstract

In female Aedes triscriatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae), duration of spiracular opening in air declined with sample age; in response to 0.5% CO2, both amplitude and duration of opening declined. There was no relationship of frequency of spiracular opening to age. Aspects of feeding behavior were observed and related to spiracular behavior in A. triseriatus and A. acgypti (L.). In the former species there was a diurnal weight loss; in both species inclusion of 0.2M KC1 in 0.3M sucrose solution led to a reduction in the amount of fluid imbibed. Spiracular opening became conservative in A. triseriatus , and to a lesser extent in A. acgypti when KC1 was included in the diet. A. acgypti engorged more than A. triseriatus and showed looser spiracular control. The course of starvation was more rapid in A. triseriatus than in A. acgypti ; the rate of water loss in the former was 4 times that in the latter. Each species showed increasingly conservative spiracular behavior as starvation proceeded.

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