634 Mosquito News Vol. 40, No. 4

Table 1. Rates of autogeny in four generations of Aedes polynesiensis Marks from Fiji.

Number of Number of Females Females Laying Autogenous * Number of Autogenous upon Generation Females Eggs Dissection %Autogeny XEggs (S.E.)

1 50 21 6 54.00 12.86(1.43) 2 50 3 1 8.00 7.00 (3.40) 3 11 2 * 18.18 15.50(3.18) * 4 4 1 25.00 16.00 (N/A)

* No females were dissected in the third and fourth generations.

As mentioned above, it appeared that the ous mosquitoes. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 16: viability of the autogenous eggs was less than 231-248. should be expected. During the course of the Trpis, M. 1978. The genetics of hematophagy experiment, about 40% of the eggs hatched. and autogeny in the Aedes scutellaris complex Again, because the strain is well established in (Diptera:Culicidae) J. Med. Entomol. 15: the laboratory, it is unlikely that the 73-80. anautogenous females produce eggs with a similarly low rate of hatch. So, it is believed that the autogenous eggs have a lower rate of hatch than eggs produced by anautogenous females. THE POTENTIAL USE OF LARVAE OF In summary, autogeny has been found to be CHAOBORUS COOKI SAETHER (DIPTERA: present in a strain of Ae. polynesiensis from Fiji. CHAOBORIDAE) AS A BIOLOGICAL A great deal of variation was seen in the per- CONTROL OF MOSQUITO LARVAE centage of the females in the population which produced eggs autogenously. In addition, au- A. BORKENT togenous females appeared to produce far less Department of Biology, Carleton University, than a full batch of eggs, and the eggs are Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 5B6 believed to have a comparatively low rate of hatch. The predaceous larvae of Chaoborus species Acknowledgments. I would like to thank are planktonic and capture organisms by Dr. Milan Trpis for helpful discussions during hanging motionless in the water column and the course of the experiment and during the lashing out sideways at passing prey. Larvae in preparation of the manuscript. I would also ponds feed on such invertebrates as like to thank Mr. Barry Engber and Ms. Karen chironomid and culicid larvae, cladocerans and Toohey for their roles in obtaining the mos- copepods. quitoes used in this study. The potential use of Chaoborus larvae as biological control agents of mosquito larvae has in Literature Cited been investigated both in the laboratory and nature (James and Smith 1958, Montchadsky Duhrkopf, R. E. and M. Trpis. 1980. The de- 1964, Nikolaeva 1979, Sailer and Lienk 1954, gree of susceptibility and levels of infection Skierska 1969, 1974, Twinn 1931). Because in ten different strains of Aedes polynesiensis most species are restricted to permanent water Marks infected with subperiodic Brugia where large numbers of pest mosquito species malayi and Brugia pakangi. Am. J. Trop. rarely occur, these are of limited use as a Med. Hyg. in press. biological control. Huang, Yiau-Min. 1975. A redescription of During a revision of Schadonophasma Aedes (Stegomyia) pseudosculellaris (Theobold) (Chaoborus), Borkent (1979) discovered that with a note of the taxonomic status of Aedes Chaoborus cooki overwintered in the egg stage in (Stegomyia) polynesiensis Marks (Dip- seasonally temporary woodland ponds in the tera:Culicidae). Mosquito Systematics 7: Nearctic region. In Alberta, Canada, 1st instar 87-101. larvae hatched in early spring while surface ice Spielman, A. 1971. The bionomics of autogen- still formed overnight, generally about the 2nd December, 1980 Mosquito News 635

or 3rd week of May. These larvae reached Nikolaeva, N. V. 1979. On insects, predators of adulthood by late June or early July. Females larvae of blood-sucking mosquitoes on the produced desiccation resistant, diapausing south Yamal. Zool. Zh. 58:505-508. eggs with a highly sculptured exochorion, ob- Sailer, R. I. and S. E. Lienk. 1954. Insect pred- vious adaptations to temporary pond exist- ators of mosquito larvae and pupae in ence. This apparently unique adaptation Alaska. Mosq. News 14:14-16. (shared by C. nyblaei, a Palaearctic species) in Skierska, B. 1969. Larvae Chaoborinae (Dip- the genus places larvae of C. cooki in the same tera; Culicidae) occurring in small water res- habitat as some mosquito species and especially ervoirs. I. Some observations on larvae of those of the genus Aedes. Chaoborus crystalHnus (De Geer, 1776) and on I was able to observe both in nature and the the possibility of their predacity in relation to laboratory that C. cooki larvae readily consume larvae of biting mosquitoes (Diptera; culicid larvae. For example, at a site 1.6 km Culicidae, Culicinae). Biul. Inst. Med. south of Jasper, Alberta a mosquito hatch was Morsk. Gdansk 20:101-108. directly observed to be devoured by C. cooki Skierska, B. 1974. Komary (Diptera:Culicidae)

larvae and subsequent sampling of the pond zachodniej czesci wyspy Wolina i failed to reveal any mosquito larvae. poludniowo-zachodniej czesci Uznamu. Predation of mosquito larvae was observed Poznan. Tow. Przyj. Nauk Wydz. Mat.-Przyr. throughout the study period (3 yrs.) in early Pr. Kom. Biol. 36:1-79. spring and after heavy rains in a number of Twinn, C. R. 1931. Observations on some localities in Alberta (Borkent 1979). I regularly aquatic animal and plant enemies of mos- collected C. cooki at those times with mosquito quitoes. Can. Entomol. 63:51-61. larvae in their crops. The purpose of this paper is to point out the potential use of C. cooki larvae as a biological control of those early season mosquitoes which occur in the boreal areas of temperate regions. ELAPHRUS CUPREUS DFSCH. (COLEOP- Only the basics of the life cycle were deter- mined by Borkent and many more data TERA, CARABIDAE), A PREDATOR OF THE (1979), PUPAE OF BITING MIDGES (DIPTERA, need to be obtained before any practical appli- CERATOPOGONIDAE) cation can be made of C. cooki. Numbers of mosquitoes consumed, duration of each larval J. P. RIEB, J. C. DELECOLLE and instar, effectiveness of predation at varying M. KREMER prey densities, adult behavior and the nature of egg diapause are all aspects which need to be Institut de Parasitologic, Faculte de Medecine investigated. It is hoped therefore, that some de Strasbourg (France) researcher or organization will be able to further investigate the potential of C. cooki. Very few observations on insect predators of Acknowledgments. I thank Dr. D. A. Craig ceratopogonid pupae have been reported. In for discussing with me the ideas in this paper his review of literature of natural enemies of and Dr. D. M. Wood for critically reading the biting midges, Wirth (1977) cites only one case: manuscript. Yaseen (1974) observed in Trinidad (West In- dies), adults of the tiger-beetle Cicindela suturalis F. feeding on pupae and adults of References Cited Culicoides phlebotomus ( Willi ston). Borkent, A. 1979. Systematics and bionomics At a breeding place near Ichtratzheim of the species of the subgenus (France), consisting of a mud-bank next to a Schadonophasma Dyar and Shannon river, where we are studying the spatial distri- (Chaoborus, Chaoboridae, Diptera). Quaest. bution of biting-midge larvae, we noticed that Entomol. 15:122-255. the number of Culicoides which emerged was James, H. G. and B. C. Smith. 1958. Observa- more than 3 times lower than that obtained tions on three species of Chaoborus Licht. from mud samples kept in the laboratory (Rieb (Diptera: Culicidae) at Churchill, Manitoba. & Kremer). We considered that the activity of a Mosq. News 18:242-248. predator could explain partly the diminution Montchadsky, A. S. 1964. The role of of the yield in the field. During the summer of Chaoborinae larvae (Diptera, Culicidae) in 1979, we discovered by careful observations, the extinction of the larvae of bloodsucking the presence of a beetle: Elaphrus cupreus mosquitoes. Zool. Zh. 43:455—466. Dfsch. It is found on the surface of mud, in