Distribution and Overcrowding Effects in Mosquito Larvae (Diptera: Culicidae) Inhabiting Taro Axils in the Ryukyus, Japan

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Abstract
Distribution and overcrowding effects were examined for the immature population of Aedes flavopictus miyarai and Malaya genurostris inhabiting taro axils in Ishigaki Island, the Ryukyus. The distribution pattern of Ae. f. miyarai larvae and pupae and Ml. genurostris larvae in taro axils was contagious and fitted the negative binomial series. Mosquito (both species combined) density in mosquito-positive axils was very high, the average and the maximum being 2.75 and 43 larvae plus pupae per millilitre of water, respectively. In 1st-and 2nd-instar larvae of Ae. f. miyarai, no correlation was recognized between body size and larval density. In older larvae and pupae of Ae. f. miyarai, body size was inversely correlated with density. In Ml. genurostris, the tendency was not so clear. Field specimens of Ae. f. miyarai (except lst-instar larvae) were smaller than laboratory ones reared with ample supply of food under temperature and photoperiod conditions similar to those in the field.