[Features of larval development in Simulium buissoni Roubaud, 1906, and S. sechani Craig and Fossati, 1995 (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Marquesas Archipelago (French Polynesia)].
Two anthropophilic species are known from the Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia): Simulium buissoni Roubaud, 1906 and S. sechani Craig & Fossati, 1995. The need to control them requires good knowledge about their larval growth, larvae being the only stage actually susceptible to control. A biometric study based on cephalic measures of the two species, shows that they both have seven larval instars. Size variations following species and sampling sites are examined, as are variations of the sex of the two last larval instars. A recolonization experiment, after treatment of a part of a river, allows us to quantify larval growing length of S. buissoni, which is about 12 days. These data allow us to determine the optimal treatment frequency.
Séchan
Y
Y
Institut de Recherches pour le Développement en Coopération (Centre IRD de Tahiti), BP 529, 98713 Papeete, Tahiti, Polynésie Française. ysechan@malarde.pf
Tetuanui
A
A
D000818:Animals; D007814:Larva / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011114:Polynesia; D012843:Simuliidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors