Interrupted Blood Feeding by Culex (Diptera: Culicidae) in Relation to Individual Host Tolerance to Mosquito Attack

Abstract

Field studies at Delta Marsh (1991) and Winnipeg (1993), MB, and Vero Beach (1992), FL, examined variation among individual quail hosts in terms of the blood-feeding success by mosquitoes that fed on them. Culex tarsalis Coquillett was the predominant species collected in box traps baited with 2 quail at Delta Marsh in 1991, Culex nigripalpus Theobald was the predominant species collected at Vero Beach in 1992, and both Cx. tarsalis and Culex restuans Theobald were collected in approximately equal numbers at Winnipeg in 1993. In 48 of 70 samples, blood feeding was skewed significantly from an even distribution between the 2 quail in each trap. In 5 of 13 samples of Cx. tarsalis collected in 1991, incomplete feeding (proportion of blood meals ≤1/2 full) was from 2 to 8 times more likely on one bird relative to the other. In 7 of 13 samples of Cx. nigripalpus collected in 1992, incomplete feeding was from 2 to > 10 times more likely on one bird relative to the other. Incomplete feeding was from 2 to > 10 times more likely on one bird relative to the other in 7 of 11 mixed Cx. restuans/Cx. tarsalis samples collected in 1993. The probability that a given quail would interrupt a feeding mosquito was correlated negatively with the probability of the same quail being fed on. The proportion of detectable multiple meals in a given trap night was correlated negatively with the degree to which the distribution of blood meals in each trap night was skewed away from 0.5 on each bird. Individual quail varied significantly in terms of the blood feeding success of mosquitoes that fed on them.