The Mosquitos of Liberia (Diptera: Culicidae), a general Survey

Abstract

In this, the third in a series of papers on the mosquito fauna of the African Eepublic of Liberia, the results of past studies and of a recent survey by the writer have been incorporated to present an up-to-date summary of all the available information on this little-known section of the Upper Guinean Forest. Bequaert (1930) quotes Ziemann (1902) as the first to report the presence of Anopheles gambiae Giles in Monrovia. Bequaert himself lists 18 species of mosquitos collected in Liberia during the Harvard Expedition to Liberia and the Belgian Congo. Barber, Eice & Brown (1932) published the results of a malaria survey carried out on the Firestone Plantations. Briscoe (1948), collecting mainly near the coast, added several species to the list and later (1950, 1952) published his field notes and a survey of the ecology of the insects he had found, including mosquitos. Young & Johnson (1949) were the first to record the breeding of Anopheles gambiae var. melas Theo. on the coast. Gelfand (1954) gives a brief account of the Liberian Anophelines.This paper includes the results of an extensive survey carried out by the writer and his staff while engaged in malaria control operations between April 1953 and May 1954 in the Liberian hinterland. All identifications have been checked as far as possible against specimens in the British Museum. The first two papers in this series described three new species of Culicini and hitherto unknown stages of ten other species.Detailed malariological findings of the Kpain project will be reported at a later date. Methods.In order to carry on an entomological check of the malaria control operations, the operational area, over 800 square miles of sparsely populated country in the hinterland, was divided into sectors in each of which a number of fixed adult and larval catching stations were established. These and numerous random stations were visited by the author or members of his staff every two or four weeks. Eoutine collections of adults were made by hand and at random by space-spraying with a home-made pyrethrum preparation. Larvae were collected by making a counted number of dips with nets of standard size. All material was brought to the central laboratory for identification and recording.Larvae were reared in the laboratory as often as practical, and special searches were made in tree holes and other small water containers. Adults were sought in outdoor resting places as well as indoors. There were almost no animal shelters in the area and indeed few large domestic animals. Climate.A hot, humid climate with seasonal rainfall prevails over the whole country. Briscoe (1952) has given a good account of the climate especially of the coastal • Lately Medical Entomologist,

Use of MALDI-TOF MS for the Identification of Chad Mosquitoes and the Origin of Their Blood Meal

“…51 As for Cx. rima, its presence has already been reported in some African countries, [52][53][54] but its vector role remains unknown to this day. We found that the fragment of the COI gene amplified in this study could not distinguish An.…”

Studies on the biology and taxonomy of Aedes (Stegomyia) vittatus (Bigot) (Diptera: Culicidae) in Northern Nigeria

“…vittatus are found predominantly in pools in rock outcrops or river beds, and even in pools formed in coral (Wiseman, Symes, MacMahon & Teesdale, 1939). They have also been recorded from a variety of habitats including domestic utensils, hoofprints, boats, wells (Hopkins, 1952), bamboo pots (Harris, 1942) and tree-holes (Kerr, 1933;Peters, 1956), and the present author has found larvae on several occasions at the peak of the breeding season in open floodwater concrete drains. In the present work, however, no larvae of Ae.…”

The ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Afrotropical region: taxonomic review and key to species

“…These specimen records are the basis of the distribution maps , which were generated with SimpleMappr (https://www.simplemappr.net). Specimen records without coordinates were georeferenced using Google Earth, GEOnet Names Server (https://geonames.nga.mil/gns/html/), and the following literature sources: Arnold (1954), Balogh et al (1965), Baum (1903), Benson et al (1933), Bottego (1895), Bouvier (1922), Chamberlin (1927), Chapin (1954), davis & Misonne (1964), delachaux & Thiébaud (1934, donisthorpe (1945), dugmore (1910), Eltringham (1918), Evans & Fletcher (1952), Friedmann & Williams (1969), hocking (1970, Kizungu (2006Kizungu ( ), lamotte et al (2003Kizungu ( ), loveridge (1957, Martin et al (1909), Mason & rozkosny (2015), Molyneux (1903), O'leary (2003), Penzig (1895), Peters (1956), renaut & Owen (2005, room (1971), Tessmann (1913), Wheeler (1922b), Wittmer (1970), and Young (1917). Geolocation of some Ed ross collection sites was made possible by consulting his field notes and annotated maps in the archives of the California Academy of Sciences.…”