THE GONOTROPHIC STATUS AND DIEL PATTERN OF ENTRY TO OUTDOOR OVIPOSITION SITES OF FEMALE AEDES-AEGYPTI (L) (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE)

Experimental observations, made outdoors during the dry and wet seasons in Trinidad, confirm earlier findings regarding the diel pattern of entry to ovitraps and of oviposition there and the taking of more than one bloodmeal during a single gonotrophic cycle. For 6-h but not for 6-h exposure periods, significantly more eggs were laid in the morning peak during the dry season than during the wet season. At the study site females were encountered singly, and only in ovitraps that contained eggs. With regard to their gonotrophic status, we conclude that, when captured, most and probably all of these females were about to oviposit, were in the process of ovipositing or had just finished ovipositing, and moreover that the laid eggs in an ovitrap were usually the product of a single female. There was no indication that females normally enter an ovitrap in the early afternoon 2 or more hours before ovipositing there.