Observations on installment egg hatching in the brown saltmarsh mosquito, Aedes cantator.

Abstract

Field collected, first generation female Aedes cantator were shown to produce heterogeneous eggs that exhibit variable hatch in response to serial inundations and cold conditioning in the laboratory. Nearly 85% of the egg batches exhibited some hatch with the first flooding, representing 69.4% of the total overall hatch. However, 56% of the same egg batches displayed further hatch with subsequent floodings and 34% showed partial hatch before and after cold conditioning. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to the biology of Ae. cantator.