Anopheles Barbirostris (Diptera: Culicidae) as a Vector of the Timor Filaria on Flores Island: Preliminary Observations1

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Abstract
A brief survey of mosquitoes was made during April 1975 at a focus of the Timor filaria on the Island of Flores, Southeast Indonesia. Larvae, pupae and adults were collected in and around a small village in which the Timor microfilaremia rate of inhabitants was 25% and the Wuchereria bancrofti rate about 1%. One hundred and twenty-nine Anopheles barbirostris were collected from rooms, verandahs and eaves of homes of carriers and later dissected; of these, 35 (27%) were found to contain larvae of the Timor type. Twenty-six An. barbirostris were collected from a mosquito-net trap baited overnight with 2 sleeping carriers. Seven of these mosquitoes were dissected within 5 days of feeding and 3 were found to be infected with 1st- or 2nd-stage larvae of the Timor type. The remaining 19 mosquitoes were dissected 12 days postfeeding and 13 harbored infective-stage larvae of the Timor type. Small numbers of several other species of anophelines and culicines were collected in and around the village and examined, but none was infected with filaria larvae. A single An. barbirostris and 16 An. vagus were experimentally fed on a carrier with a mixed infection of the Timor filaria and W. bancrofti; the An. barbirostris supported full development of a Timor larva, and An. vagus supported the development of W. bancrofti. An. barbirostris was the most numerous night-biting mosquito, with peak activity between the hours of 2100 and 0300. It fed mostly indoors, but it also attacked persons sitting and sleeping on verandahs and under eaves. At night it was found resting in unfed and full-fed conditions on inside walls and on undersides of thatch roofs and eaves; it left homes by 0500 hr. Breeding sites of An. barbirostris were apparently restricted to irrigated rice fields and small grass-filled riverside channels 1/2 km from the village.

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