Longevity in males and females <i>of Aedes (Ochlerotatus) cantans<i/> (Meigen)</i> and <i>A. (O.) communis</i> (De Geer) (Diptera, Culicidae)

Longevity of adult males and females of mosquitoes Aedes (Ochlerotatus) communis (De Geer) and A. (O.) cantans (Meigen), emerged and reared in laboratory conditions, was estimated. Imagines were reared in groups in specially constructed containers with free access to sucrose and water, with mean environmental temperature of 21–22 °С, 50% air humidity inside containers, and natural light regimen. A separate group of A. cantans was reared from eggs (embryos), collected with fallen leaves from under snow. It was recognized that adult males of both species live shorter than their conspecific females. Longevity in A. cantans, in general, is greater than in A. communis; the statistically significant interspecific differences were revealed when survival curves of males were compared. Maximum recorded longevity was 42.5 and 74 days for adult females of A. communis and A. cantans, respectively. Adult females of A. cantans, reared from embryos under laboratory conditions at mean water temperature of 19°C, had the mean life expectancy similar to that obtained for conspecific adult females reared from larvae and pupae collected in nature (40 and 34 days, respectively). Two groups of their male counterparts had identical mean life expectancy values (15 days). The results mean that A. cantans adults are more convenient than adults of A. communis for prolonged experiments under laboratory conditions. Probably, adults of A. cantans reared from embryos are, in general, not less viable than their conspecifics hatched and developed at pre-imaginal stages in natural conditions.