LIFE-CYCLE OF AMBLYOSPORA-WEISERI N-SP - (MICROSPORIDIA) IN AEDES-CANTANS (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE)

Amblyospora weiseri n.sp., parasite of the mosquito Aedes cantans in Czechoslovakia has two sporulation sequences: the octosporous sporulation sequence occurs in oenocytes and fat body tissue of larvae, involves meiosis and results in the formation of eight uninucleate spores (octospores) enclosed in a sporophorous vesicle and is fatal for the host. Octospores are not infectious to other larvae. The oenocytic sequence localized in oenocytes of larvae and adults of both sexes probably effects transovarial transmission to the next mosquito generation and involves the formation of isolated binucleate spores. The oenocytic development differs from the same sequence found in other mosquito Amblyospora, as it involves the development of uninucleate meronts and large plasmodia with single nuclei as well as binucleate stages. A. weiseri n.sp. is another member of the genus Amblyospora in which sporulation is not dependent upon the host taking a blood meal. Preliminary attemps to infect Cyclops strenuus and Megacyclops gigas with octospores failed. © 1990, Gustav Fischer Verlag · Stuttgart · New York. All rights reserved.