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Biomedical subjects

D E Egerter

Publications and source records attributed to D E Egerter.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Blood-feeding drive inhibition of Aedes sierrensis (Diptera: Culicidae) induced by the parasite Lambornella clarki (Ciliophora: Tetrahymenidae).

Female Aedes sierrensis (Ludlow) infected with the parasitic ciliate Lambornella clarki Corliss and Coats were significantly less responsive toward a human host than uninfected females. The proportion of infected females that were inhibited in host-seeking and blood-feeding remained high in all daily exposures to the host. Those that did respond took approximately twice as long to land on the host and 25% longer to complete probing as did uninfected females. In contrast, nearly all uninfected females more than 5 d old rapidly responded to and blood fed on the host. Uninseminated females were more similar in their behavior to infected females than to uninfected inseminated females. For females allowed to ingest blood, the time from completion of probing to engorgement was not significantly different for infected versus uninfected females. Some blood-fed, uninfected females took one additional small blood meal 1-3 d after the first blood meal, but most (56%) were inhibited in blood feeding until after ovipositing. Overall feeding time and most sequential behaviors associated with blood feeding were similar to those reported for other mosquito species. Parasite-induced inhibition of the blood-feeding drive may explain low capture rates of L. clarki-infected mosquitoes at human bait.

Aedes↗
PubMed1986

Dispersal of the parasitic ciliate Lambornella clarki: implications for ciliates in the biological control of mosquitoes.

Lambornella clarki (Ciliophora: Tetrahymenidae), an endoparasite of Aedes sierrensis (Diptera: Culicidae), is dispersed by infected adult mosquitoes. Invasion of the ovaries induces parasitically castrated females to exhibit oviposition behavior and thereby actively disperse ciliates through deposition into water. Oviposition behavior of infected females is prolonged and mimics that of normal gravid females in their first gonotropic cycle. Adults of both sexes also passively disperse ciliates by dying on water surfaces, and infected adults are more likely to die on water than uninfected adults. Ciliates dispersed by infected adults can infect larvae and form desiccation-resistant cysts. Parasite-induced dispersal by hosts, desiccation-resistant cysts, an active host-seeking infective stage, and high infection and mortality rates all indicate significant biological control potential for these and related ciliates against container-breeding mosquitoes.

Aedes↗
PubMed1986

Distribution and prevalence of Octomyomermis troglodytis (Nematoda: Mermithidae), a parasite of the western tree hole mosquito, Aedes sierrensis.

Octomyomermis troglodytis was found infecting Aedes sierrensis larvae in 14.5% of 165 tree holes sampled between 1982 and 1986. Mermithid infections were detected in tree hole waters that ranged in pH from 6.5 to 9.3 and electrical conductivities between 0.10 and 5.11 mmhos/cm. Third and fourth instar larvae were most frequently infected, and most immatures that succumbed to infections died while in the fourth instar. Most hosts contained only one nematode. Infected adults were obtained from emergence traps over tree holes, from field-collected immatures reared in the laboratory, and from mosquito collections from sentinel humans. Octomyomermis troglodytis escaped from adults into water vials in the laboratory, suggesting that infected adult mosquitoes serve as dispersal agents for this parasite.

Aedes↗