Sugar meal composition of five north central Florida mosquito species (Diptera : Culicidae) as determined by gas chromatography

Gas chromatography was used to analyze sugars found in individual crops fed . on by wild caught adult Anopheles quadrimaculatus s.l. (Say), Coquilletti dia perturbans (Walker), Culex nigripalpus Theobald. Culiseta melanura (Coq uillett), and Psorophora ferox (von Humboldt) from several north central Fl orida locations. A wide range of sugars was found, including fructose, gluc ose, sucrose, maltose, turanose, melezitose, trehalose, raffinose, erlose, and traces of arabinose, rhamnose, and several unknowns. The frequency of i ndividuals testing positive for crop sugars ranged. from 9-10% in An, quadr imaculatus and Ps. ferox to 46% in Cq. perturbans. Based on the presence of melezitose or erlose in the crop, honeydew feeding was shown to be an impo rtant dietary component in An. quadrimaculatus (57%), Cs. melanura (31%), C x. nigripalpus (15%), Cq. perturbans (10%), and Ps. ferox (7%). Gas chromat ography of crude crop contents is a rapid one-step process that call addres s important guestions such as the source and occurrence of sugar feeding in Diptera. Unique sugar feeding field observant ions were recorded for sever al mosquito species.