Field Experiments With a Wind Tunnel on the Flight Speed of Some West African Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

摘要

An open wind tunnel, down which air was blown from over a bait animal, was used in the field in the Gambia to measure the flight speed of host-seeking mosquitoes. Insects were trapped on an electrocuting grid fitted halfway up the tunnel. As the speed of air movement through the electrocuting grid was increased from 0-5 m/s, catches of Mansonia spp. fell off steeply, reaching negligible levels above 1-4 m/s. At air speeds lower than 0-5 m/s, catches at the grid were greatly reduced. Similar results were obtained for Anopheles ziemanni Grimb. and other species of Anopheles. It is concluded that the maximum flight speed of hostseeking females of all these species was in the range 4-1-8 m/s.