Assessing the Use of Diurnal Resting Shelters by Culiseta melanura (Diptera: Culicidae)

Twenty resting shelters were set on the edge of a known Culiseta breeding habitat in four groups of five to support a 4 X 4 Latin square field experiment. Collection times were 0900, 1100, 1300, and 1500 hours and systematically rotated for the order by which each group of five boxes was collected. Mosquitoes were collected from resting shelters by chloroform anesthetization. Collections were identified to species, sex, and physiological status of the females (nonblooded or blood-fed and gravid). More than 77% of the mosquitoes collected were Culiseta melanura (Coquillett). Analyses included means and SE for total collections and shelter-day (number collected per units) and means comparison by t-test and general linear model with Student-Newman-Keuls or least significant differences means tests for replicate, group, time, and interactions of time and group. There were few significant differences among or between shelter-day means but more blood-fed and gravid female Cs. melanura were collected at 1300 hours than any other time. Results confirm the effectiveness of resting shelters in a surveillance program for Cs. melanura, demonstrate the flexibility of resting shelters as a surveillance tool, and suggest that Cs. melanura will move to more acceptable resting sites during daylight.