EVALUATION OF INOCULATIVE RELEASES OF TOXORHYNCHITES-SPLENDENS (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS IN FLORIDA

Inoculative releases of Toxorhynchites splendens (Wiedemann) were cond ucted of the cities of Sarasota, Tallahassee, Panama City, and Panama City Beach, FL, in 1989 and 1990. In 1989, painted 473-ml little black jars were used to monitor T. splendens oviposition. T. splendens larv ae were found in 88-100% of the jars within 3 wk of release periods bu t were never recovered at longer intervals. Significantly fewer eggs o f pest mosquitoes were recovered from a site receiving both ultralow v olume (ULV) applications of malathion and T. splendens than the site r eceiving ULV alone. In 1990, although 45% of the artificially placed j ars were colonized by T. splendens at both sites following releases, n atural container colonizations were below 10%. Apparent predation of r esident pest mosquitoes by T. splendens within the little black jars o ver the entire 1990 study was not statistically significant.