The Longevity and Productivity of Adult Male and Female Aedes Aegypti When Reared Separately and Together on Three Different Diets1

Adult females lived longer than males whether the sexes were reared separately or together, and whether fed on 10% sucrose, on citrated, hemolyzed beef blood containing 10% sucrose, or on a synthetic diet of amino acids, inorganic salts, and 10% sucrose. In all cases, males lived significantly longer alone than when caged with females, but females lived longer when with males than when alone, except on the blood diet where the longevities were relatively equivalent. On blood, females of the mixed group laid 2.3 times as many eggs as were laid by the isolated group of virgin females. On the sucrose diet longevity of males and of females, whether separated or together, was as great as or greater than on either of the other two diets. On the blood diet eggs deposited in 40 days averaged 300 per fertilized female and 127 per virgin female, while on the synthetic diet the averages were 47 and 7.4, respectively.