Effect of temperature on the embryronic development of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Aedes albopictus (Skuse) is known to be an invasive species and it becomes the main concern on the changes of climate that will cause the expansion and spreading of the mosquito populations. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the development cycles of Ae. albopictus larval at different water temperatures and water holding containers in a controlled environment by using temperature regulated water bath to cover a range of temperature from 25°C to 35°C. The experiment was completely randomized in factorial 3 x 5 design (15 treatments), three populations (Selangor-strain, Malacca-strain and Sabah-strain) and three replications. The analysis was based on the observation of the immature stages development (days) in response to different water temperature regimes and types of water containers. The development between three different strains showed no significant difference (p-value: 0.594), however the effect of water temperature on local strains showed that the temperature might shorten the development period of Ae. albopictus. This study concluded that the information on the larval development could act as a preliminary warning in recognizing the pattern of outcome due to seasonal changes throughout the year in Malaysia.