LIBRAR Y ■JRD FEBE- Î961 THE U. s. DtPÁ¡<,,>^iMl OF AGidCÜLl-yí MOSQUITOES OF ALASKA Agriculture Handbook No. 182 Agricultural Research Service UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE U < The purpose of this handbook is to present information on the biology, distribu- tion, identification, and control of the species of mosquitoes known to occur in Alaska. Much of this information has been published in short papers in various journals and is not readily available to those who need a comprehensive treatise on this subject ; some of the material has not been published before. The information l)r()UKlit together here will serve as a guide for individuals and communities that have an interest and responsibility in mosquito problems in Alaska. In addition, the military services will have considerable use for this publication at their various installations in Alaska. CuUseta alaskaensis, one of the large "snow mosquitoes" that overwinter as adults and emerge from hiber- nation while much of the winter snow is on the ground. In some localities this species is suJBBciently abundant to cause serious annoy- ance. THE MOSQUITOES OF ALASKA By C. M. GJULLIN, R. I. SAILER, ALAN STONE, and B. V. TRAVIS Agriculture Handbook No. 182 Agricultural Research Service UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Washington, D.C. Issued January 1961 For «ale by the Superintendent of Document«. U.S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D.C. - Price 45 cent» Contents Page Page History of mosquito abundance Biology—Continued and control 1 Oviposition 25 Mosquito literature 3 Hibernation 25 Economic losses 4 Surveys of the mosquito problem. 25 Mosquito-control organizations 5 Mosquito surveys 25 Life history 5 Engineering surveys 29 Eggs_". 6 Methods of mosquito control 29 Larvae 6 Control of larvae 30 Pupae 6 Environmental control-., 30 Adults 6 Control with insecticides. 31 Distribution 7 Protection against adults 32 Abundance 11 Personal protection 33 Predicting abundance 12 Insecticides 34 Effects of weather on mos- Control of resistant mosqui- quito activity 14 toes 39 Biology 16 Technique for mosquito collection Larval habitats 16 and survey 39 Habitat preferences and Identification of species 42 relative economic im- portance of species 21 Keys and notes for identification. 42 Water temperature of Genus Aedes Meigen 45 larval habitats 22 Genus Culiseta Felt 71 Adult food habits 23 Genus Anopheles Meigen 77 Longevity 23 Genus Culex Linnaeus 79 Flight range 23 Literature cited 81 Mating 24 Appendix 87 n THE MOSQUITOES OF ALASKA By C. M. GJULLIN, R. I. SAILER. ALAN STONE, and B. V. TRAVIS.^ entomologists, Entomology Research Division, Agricultural Research Service History of Mosquito Abundance and Control The mosquito problem in Alaska fever. The traveler who exposes his seems to have changed very little bare eyes or face here loses his natural since it was first recorded by early appearance; his eyelids swell up and close, and his face becomes one mass of travelers and explorers. The first lumps and fiery pimples. Mosquitoes reconnaissance of Alaska after its torture the Indian dogs to death, espe- purchase from Russia in 1867 was cially if one of these animals, by mange made by Raymond (94.) ^ of the or otherwise, loses an inconsiderable portion of its thick hairy covering, and U.S. Army Engineer Corps in 1869. even drive the bear and the deer into During his voyage up the Yukon the water. River by steamboat, mosquitoes During a military reconnaissance were present in large numbers. He of the Copper River Valley in 1898 wrote : under the direction of Abenjrombie The swarms of mosquitoes and gnats (i), captain of the Second U.S. which abound on the river during the Infantry, a party led by Rafferty months of June and July proved a very serious annoyance. When the boat was (91) investigated the route from not in motion, we were obliged to wear Valdez to Copper Center on the face nets and gloves; and on one occa- Klutina River. His party camped sion an attempt to make sextant obser- for several days at Copper Center. vations failed completely from this cause. The mosquitoes are much larger He described the mosquito situation than those met with in lower latitudes. at that time (June 9-13) as follows : Petrof (89), while investigating The long-expected pests, the mosqui- toes, were out in full force during the the population and resources of stay at this camp, and the men were com- Alaska m 1880, found mosquitoes to pelled to wear veils day and night, with be a severe annoyance in the lower gloves to protect the hands. The feroc- Kuskokwim Valley. He wrote : ity of these mosquitoes I regard as some- thing remarkable. The species found There is another feature in this coun- here is not the large, singing sort seen try which, though insignificant on pa- in the States, but a small, silent, busi- per, is to the traveler the most terrible ness-like insect, sharp of bill, who touches and poignant infliction he can be called the tender spot in a surprisingly short upon to bear in a new land. I refer to time after alighting. After making their the clouds of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, ac- ~ appearance they never left the expedi- companied by a vindictive ally in the tion for a day. shape of a small poisonous black fly, under the stress of whose persecution the The conditions described by these strongest man with the firmest will must early travelers do not prevail in all either feel depressed or succumb to low parts of Alaska with equal inten- sity, nor are they always as severe ' Now with the Department of Ento- mology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.T. in the same locality from year to ' Italic numbers in parentheses refer to year. However, Stefansson (JOl) Literature Cited, p. 81. after many years of travel and ex- AGR. HANDBOOK 182, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE ploration in the North considered during 1947-48. Work in this area mosquitoes one of the principal ob- was carried on mainly during the stacles to the development of this summer and was handicapped by region. huge swanns of mosquitoes, which The first information on the spe- emerged after the spring thaw and cies of mosquitoes that are such a persisted until the first frost. Four severe pest in many places in Alaska species wei-e present. Neither fuel may have been obtained by Trevor oil alone nor fuel oil and DDT Kincaid (Coquillett i?(9) of theHar- gave satisfactory control in air- riman Alaska Expedition in 1899. plane applications against larvae, He collected large numbers of in- but DDT-fuel oil applications sects, including two species of mos- against adults markedly reduced quitoes. Mosquito collections have the mosquito population for a few also been made by J. S. Hine of the days. National Geographic's Mount Kat- The need for protective measures mai expedition in 1917, as well as against the hordes of biting insects by H. G. Dyar in 1917 and J. M. in the arctic and subarctic became Aldrich in 1921. more urgent with the increased mil- The habits, biology, and methods itary interest in these regions after of control of mosquitoes in Alaska 1941. As a result of a discussion were first investigated in the sum- of these problems by workers in the mer of 1931 in a cooperative project U.S. Department of Agriculture between the U.S. Bureau of Ento- and the office of the Surgeon Gen- mology and the U.S. Smelting and eral, U.S. Department of the Army, Mining Co. The investigations a project was outlined by the for- were carried on by Tidloch {106) mer to obtain basic information for at Fairbanks, Alaska. Fifteen insect control. This project was species were collected in the area approved by the Surgeon General during the summer. Recommenda- in 1946, and the Department of tions for control of mosquitoes af- Agriculture was designated as the fecting the men employed in gold- resjoonsible agency. Specialists dredging operations there included were assigned from the various burning of the dead vegetation to agencies concerned. Quarters and facilitate evaporation of partially subsistence for the men and all sup- covered pools, minor drainage, and plies and equipment were furnished spraying of breeding areas adja- by the military except microscopes cent to the mining operations with and a limited amount of similar diesel oil. equipment, which were provided by Additional information on the the Department of Agriculture. distribution, abundance, and species An advance party of five arrived of mosquitoes in Alaska was ob- in Alaska on May 4, 1947. In all, tained by Stage in 1943 {99). 21 persons were employed on the Chamberlin also added considerable project during 1947, and the num- infomiation to our knowledge of ber was increased to 40 during 1948. Culicidae during 1943-Í5 {99). U.S. Air Force pilots were assigned During 1956 in northeastern Alaska as needed, and 19 enlisted men were Ehrlich {9a) collected several spe- attached to the project for varying cies of mosquitoes not previously periods during the summer. In reported from beyond the tree line. 1949, 10 men carried on the work; Studies of the biology and control pilots and several enlisted men were of arctic mosquitoes were made for again assigned as needed. In 1950 the U.S. Navy installations at the party was limited to six men, in TTmiat. Alaska, by Jachowski and addition to the plane pilots and Schultz {75) and by Knight {80) four enlisted men. THE MOSQUITOES OF ALASKA The U.S. Public Health Service, fauna, reared specimens were col- which assigned several men to the lected for taxonomic purposes, and project in 194:8-49, has since main- experiments were conducted on the tained a permanent staff of three control of mosquitoes with ground entomologists on mosquito and and aerial equipment.