The maintenance of a colony of Anopheles gambiae, with observations on the effects of changes in temperature.

The authors describe the establishment and maintenance of a laboratory colony of Anopheles gambiae in Tanganyika, giving an account of the techniques adopted in order to overcome the problems encountered, as a guide to those who may be faced with similar difficulties. They also report on a series of observations on larvae, adults and the effect of temperature on mortality, fertilization, egg production and the gonotrophic cycle.The optimum constant temperature for adults and larvae was found to be 26.5 degrees C, at which the cycle of development from egg to pupa took about 9 days, with a total larval mortality of 5%. A complete life-cycle from egg to oviposition took 15 days. The pupal mortality was 1.5% and the average daily adult mortality was 1.5% for females and 1.8% for males. Peak fertilization was reached in 7 days. The average daily number of eggs produced per cage of 400 males and 400 females was 4000, with a total daily colony production of 130 000 eggs.