The effect of salinity on oviposition and egg hatching in Culicoides variipennis sonorensis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae).

The preferences of Culicoides variipennis sonorensis females for oviposition on different salinities were tested in experiments using small wells in a 4 x 4 latin square array. The mean numbers of eggs deposited on wet surfaces on salinites of 0.0, 9.9, 19.0 and 34.0O/OO, were 1212, 659, 287, and 0, respectively. Within a higher range, salinites of 19.0, 23.0, 28.0 and 34.0O/OO yielded mean numbers laid of 110, 3, 6 and 0, respectively. The overall relationship could be reasonably well described by linear regression, implying, under experimental conditions, a decline of 458 eggs laid for every 10O/OO increase in salinity. Eggs laid directly onto salinities up to 19.0O/OO survived and hatched equally well; at 34O/OO, however, no eggs became tanned and none hatched. In contrast, when eggs were laid onto fresh water, then transferred to different salinities 24 hr later, they survived and hatched even at 34O/OO.