Effects of larval and adult diet plus mating/insemination upon ovarian development of laboratory-reared Anopheles pharoensis in Egypt.

A study was conducted in Egypt on the role of sugar and blood in oogenesis of Anopheles pharoensis. Also studied was the significance of mating vs. nonmating on oocyte maturity. Ovarian development in this species was influenced by larval diet. Those with inadequate larval nutrition emerged at Christophers' stage I and required either a sugar or blood meal to reach the resting stage. A subsequent complete blood meal was needed to take these females to stage V of Christophers (gravid). Females which emerged from well-nourished larvae were at the resting stage and became gravid via a single complete blood meal. Mating did not effect ovarian development since both inseminated and virgin females developed in like manner. At emergence, sugar feeding followed by a complete blood meal seems the best way for An. pharoensis to mature a first batch of eggs.

Effect of laval breeding conditions on the morphological, ovarian and behavioral characteristics of Anopheles pharoensis of the emerged females.

Under laboratory conditions, morphological, ovarian and behavioral characteristics of Anopheles pharoensis females were found to be affected by a combination of 3 larval environmental factors: quantity of food, density of larvae and salinity of the rearing medium. Size and weight of the emerged females were decreased by lowering the quantity of food (basic ration), increasing the population density of larvae (200 larvae/pan) and increasing the salinity of the rearing medium (1/5 dilution of Sea water). Embryogenesis and behavior of the female were also affected by the larval environmental factors; the female emerged with the undeveloped stag of the ovaries (Christophers's stage I), needs a multiple feeding with 2 blood meals required, at times, to reach the gravid stage and produce the first batch of eggs. The female emerged with fewer number of ovarian follicles and thus affecting the number of produced eggs. The emerged female takes as maximum 4 blood meals to lay 3 batches of eggs during the life cycle (8 days).