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Life cycle lasts 15-20 days generally. Adult can feed at 23°C or above
(70°F.). Remains inactive at lower temperature. Females of most species
suck animal blood, males take nectar from flowers or water. Carry
diseases like malaria, filaria, yellow fever, dengue etc. Most of the
mosquitoes look alike but differ greatly in detail. One species A. aegypti,
Tiger mosquito, common in west coast near big rivers is banded black and
white, man hunting, day biting, more common in cities and towns. Breeds
in artificial collections of water eg. pots jars, bottles etc. Carrier of
Dengue fever.
See: Purl I. M. (1935 & 1938) Rec. Mai. Surv. Ind. 5 Shematic table for
identification of Anophelene mosquitoes. Pts, 1 and 2 Health Bull. 10 and
16.
— (1936) Ibid. 6. Distribution of Anop. mosquito H. B. 17.
Strickland C. and Chowdhari K. L. (1927) Illustrated Key to Identification
of Ano. larva.
Fam, Cecidomyidae (Gall midges). Very small, 1-8 mm. tender slender
flies. Longish antennae with whorls of hair, broad wings with a few
straight veins. Legs simple. Larvae with various habits (1) Live on plant
tissue, make galls, pass pre-adult stages in them. (2) Live in galls made by
other insects, eg. Coleoptera, Trypetidae etc. (3) Feed on plant tissues
without forming galls. (4) Live in decaying material, and (5) Live as
predators on other small insects, mainly Coccids, aphids, psyllids, mites
etc. About 3,000 species described, about 150 in the Indian region, and 6
in Maharashtra.
D. gossypii. Attacks cotton buds, Larvae, yellow, white and red, crowd in
buds. L. 1-2 mm. A. sesami attacks Til (Sesatuum), produces wrinkles and
twisted galls. Whitish maggots live inside. Fly small,
thin, mosquito like. C. andropogonis (Jowar gall midge.) Small, pinkish.
Larvae bore into tender ears of jowar. Adults look like mealy wings. A.
oryzae (Paddy gall fly) (बिनपंखी पुडी, नाल , क नाडतोडे)) Adult, mosquito like, yellowish
FAUNA 445