Biting Activity And Resting Behaviour Of Anopheles Merus Donitz 1902 (diptera: Culicidae) In Comparison With Fresh Water Breeding An. Gambiae On The Kenya Coast

Abstract

Ecological studies on An. merus and fresh water . - breeding An. gambiae were conducted between February 1979 and May 1980 in two villages, Jimbo and Jego, on the Kenya south coast. The main aim was to compare the biting activity and resting behaviour of these An. gambiae sibling species. An. merus was the most abundant sibling species in Jimbo and constituted 86.0% of the 1,387 female An. gambiae s.l. ·that were identified by salinity tolerance test. In Jego, fresh water An. gambiae sibling species were predominant and comprised 98.5% of the 550 female An. gambiae s •1. tested. The biting cycle of An. merus outdoors and indoors, gradually rose from 18.00 hours and .attained a peak .between 24.00 hours and 01.00 hours and then declined towards 06.00 hours. The biting patterns of fresh water-An. ganibiae had steeper slopes than for An. merus and showed two peaks outdoors, one between 22.00 hours and 23.00 hours, the other between 24.00 hours and '01.00 hours. The peak of the indoor biting cycle occurred between 01.00 hour and 02.00 hours. Overall, the outdoor and indoor biting cycles of An. merus were more similar and less erratic than those of fresh water An.gambiae.