Abstract
SENIOR-WHITE1 has suggested a most convenient system of classification for the adult behaviour of anopheline mosquitoes, especially the vectors of malaria. The classification is of considerable importance when assessing the vectorial capacity of Anopheles gambiae, which ought now to be regarded as a mosquito the behaviour of which is considerably plastic; it certainly is not “a vector wherever found”. Under the environmental conditions of an oceanic island, such as Mauritius, A. gambiae appears to lose its addiction for man. It may be that when it first made its appearance in the island in the 1860's its full genetical complex was missing. Again, there is a suggestion of a behaviour cline, A. gambiae becoming less and less closely associated with man as its distribution recedes from the equatorial regions.
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References
Senior-White, R., Nature, 173, 730 (1954).
Gebert, S., Report of Medical Dept., Mauritius (1952).
Halcrow J. G. (unpublished report. 1953).
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HALCROW, J. Adult Behaviour-Pattern of Anopheles gambiae in Mauritius. Nature 175, 396 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1038/175396a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/175396a0
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