Mosquito eggs laid within two hours are necessary for transgenic (injection) studies, because mosquito eggs become hard after that period. Thus, in order to have eggs available within this two-hour window, it is important to understand... more
Mosquito eggs laid within two hours are necessary for transgenic (injection) studies, because mosquito eggs become hard after that period. Thus, in order to have eggs available within this two-hour window, it is important to understand the ovipositional behavior of Anopheles gambiae s.s.. In the present study, the ovipositional behavior of An. gambiae s.s. (Kisumu) was investigated in several different conditions: age of mosquitoes, time post blood meal to access oviposition substrate, and light conditions. Two groups of mosquitoes, 3-5 days old and 9-11 days old were blood-fed. For those mosquito groups, an oviposition dish was set either at 48 hours or 72 hours after the blood meal either in a light condition or in an artificial dark condition. The number of laid eggs was compared among the different conditions. The 3-5 day-old mosquitoes apparently produced a higher number of eggs than 9-11 day-old mosquitoes, while there was no significant difference between the two groups. The ...
