Vertical Distribution of Biting Activity by Aedes triseriatus12

Abstract

Approximately ½(48.8%) of the Aedes triseriatus collected while biting were taken ground level. Biting activity occurred throughout the period of daily observation from sunrise to sunset but the proportion at ground level was lower in the early morning and the late afternoon. These results are of epidemiological interest in that they indicate that A. triseriatus feeds up to, and probably into, the twilight period in the forest canopy, thereby having ready access to nesting birds and arboreal mammals, among them tree squirrels, known to involved in the horizontal amplification of LaCrosse virus (California encephalitis group). Another finding of possible epidemiologic importance was that 45% of bloodseeking nulliparous females had not yet been inseminated.