Methods for Mass Rearing of Aedes aegypti (L.)

Abstract

LABORATORY rearing of Aedes aegypti 1 (L.) has been a common procedure among entomologists and other scientists for about 50 years.Many improvements in equipment and techniques have been developed (1-3), and production by these methods has proved ade¬ quate for studies using as many as several thousand specimens.Experiments on dispersal (4) and on control by release of sexually sterile males (5, 6), however, require the sustained production of millions of specimens.This paper describes equipment and procedures de¬ veloped during 1955 and 1956 for rearing broods of as many as 1.3 million larvae. ProceduresMaintenance of adult colonies.The strain of A. aegypti used in the studies had been main¬ tained in the Technical Development Labora¬ tories of the Communicable Disease Center in Savannah, Ga., since 1944.Two laboratory rooms, each 10 by 13 by 10 feet and maintained at about 80°F.and 80 percent relative humi¬ dity, were required for the mass production of A. aegypti.One room was used for adult colonies, emergence cages, and egg storage.The second room contained the larval rearing trays.