HORIZONTAL DISTRIBUTION OF ADULT AEDES-TRISERIATUS (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) IN RELATION TO HABITAT STRUCTURE, OVIPOSITION, AND OTHER MOSQUITO SPECIES

A total of 3734 female and 4004 male A. triseriatus [vector of LaCrosse encephalitis] from the WALTON laboratory strain were marked and released into a 4.6-ha oak-maple woodlot in northern Indiana, USA. Through aspiration sampling, 5.9% of the marked female and 4.7% of the marked male mosquitoes were recaptured over a 40-day period. Daily survivorship of released A. triseriatus was 0.80 for females and 0.81 for males. The distribution of marked mosquitoes was highly correlated with the distribution of the natural population of A. triseriatus. The distribution of 13,311 eggs collected from ovitraps was not significantly correlated with either the distribution of marked females or with the natural population of female A. triseriatus. Significant positive correlations were found between the resting distributions of most mosquito species. Most species were highly aggregated in a relatively small area of the woodlot that contained dense ground cover. The distribution of oviposition by A. triseriatus was not correlated with any of the 8 habitat variables measured.