The spectral sensitivity of Aedes aegypti (L.) at oviposition

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Abstract
The spectral sensitivity of gravid female Aedes aegypti (L.) was investigated in the laboratory using their responses to oviposition sites illuminated by light of defined intensity and spectral composition. An inverse relationship between the illumination of an oviposition site and its selection for egg-deposition enabled the sensitivity of the mosquitoes to narrow wavelength bands to be assessed. This species showed low sensitivity to long (red) wavelengths; a peak of maximum spectral sensitivity near 550 mμ (yellow-green) with a range of significant sensitivity about this maximum between 450 (violet) and 630 mμ (orange); and positive sensitivity at 366 mμ (ultraviolet) which, from the different order of effectiveness in deterring oviposition, may represent a second, independently functioning, light receptor system. This pattern of sensitivity is sufficient to explain all published observations on the responses of mosquitoes, in physiological conditions other than gravidity, to coloured stimuli. It may, therefore, represent the spectral sensitivity of mosquitoes in general.