The Effect of a Parasitic Water Mite, Arrenurus Pseudotenuicollis1 (Acari: Hydrachnellae), on the Survival and Reproduction of the Mosquito Anopheles Crucians (Diptera: Culicidae)

The effect of parasitic larvae of the water mite Arrenurus pseudotenuicollis on adult, female mosquitoes of Anopheles crucians was determined from laboratory experiments on field-collected, nulliparous mosquitoes. The parasites significantly reduced the survivorship of both starved and raisin-fed, unengorged female mosquitoes. They significantly reduced the number of eggs produced by both field-engorged and laboratory blood-fed mosquitoes. In field collections of nulliparous An. crucians, the proportion of unengorged females bearing parasites was always higher and the average number of parasites carried by unengorged females was always greater than in engorged females. These results suggest that heavily parasitized females have a higher probability of dying before they feed on blood than do unparasitized or lightly parasitized females.