Oviposition behaviour of Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) (Diptera: Culicidae) in the field and its life cycle in the laboratory

Abstract

The objective of this work was to show the substrates preference for oviposition of
Ae. albopictus in the field, and its developmental cycle in laboratory. Insects were
distributed in nine black plastic containers in the field, next to chicken coops, pigsties
and jaboticaba trees. Paper coffee filters, wrapping paper cones and palettes of eucatex were, simultaneously, placed in every container. The observations were conducted twice a week for 120 days. After counting, eggs were transferred to disposable plastic cups, with 500mL capacity. Inside them, 350 mL of water were placed in order to propitiate the eclosion of larvae. Every plastic cup was properly identified with the date and type of substrate, and daily remarks were made for a 60 days period. We observed 29 postures in the field: nine in wrapping paper, nine in filter paper, and 11 in palettes. The average of eggs was 15.9 per oviposition. The larvae eclosion average was 11.2 and the adult development average was 9.9 per oviposition. The number of male and female insects was approximately one to one. There was no significant difference of oviposition of Ae. albopictus between the studied substrates. In the laboratory, the daily average of eggs per female was 2.09 ± 0.31. The incubation of the eggs lasted for 4.0 days. The average duration of larval instars was 1.4, 1.2, 1.3 and 2.7 days, respectively to 1°, 2°, 3° and 4° instars. The pupae instar lasted for 2.1 days.
The average life expectancy for males and females was 60 and 75 days, respectively.