RESUMO
Adult female populations of Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Dyar and Shannon), the sylvan vector of yellow fever, were monitored weekly during 1981-82 by human collectors on the ground at Point Gourde in Chaguaramas Forest, 16 km west of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Hg.leucocelaenus showed only diurnal landing activity, from 06.00 to 18.00 hours (sunrise to sunset, universal time), with a single peak of activity between 10.00 and 14.00 hours. Densities of Hg.leucocelaenus during the wet season (May-November) were about double the level recorded during the dry season (December-April). Monthly parous rates averaged 53.9 percent (range 25-90 percent) and some females were up to five pars. Retained eggs (range 2-6, mean 4/female) were found in the ovaries of 0.34 percent of landing females, all of which had stage 1 ovarian follicles for the next gonotrophic cycle. Therefore blood-feeding is not inhibited by egg retention. Hg.leucocelaenus vector potential is reappraised in the light of these findings (AU)
