The Dispersal of Culex Nigripalpus Marked with High Concentrations of Radiophosphorus1

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Abstract
Culex nigripalpus Theobald, hatched from the eggs of wild females, were fed as 4th-instar larvae in a tagging medium containing 0.5 or 0.3 μCi of 32P per ml. The reared adults were released at a rate of about 3000 females a night for 38 successive nights, and about 7000 females a night on the next 2. Except on the last 2 nights, the radioactive adults were also marked with 1 or 2 fluorescent and/or metallic dusts. Use of a different combination of dusts every 2 days made it possible to determine, within 1 day, the age of 184 radioactive females recaptured in daily collections made in CDC light traps at distances up to 3 miles (4.8 km). The daily survival rate was estimated as 0.81. The gonotrophic cycle was generally repressed, probably by the high concentrations of isotope. The recovered specimens exposed to more radiation as larvae were found to have dispersed further and more rapidly from the release point. This behavior is tentatively interpreted as migratory. To compare the relative merits of radioactive and dust marking, 16,000 non-radioactive females marked with dust alone were released on the same 2 nights as 14,000 radioactive females without dust. Comparison of the recovery rates showed that, under the conditions of this test, dust marking without radioactivity was a less practical method.
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