(1st Place) When is a Culex not a Culex?: Oviposition behavior, microhabitat associations, and life history of Culex antillummagnorum

Culex antillummagnorum is the most widely distributed mosquito on the island of Puerto Rico, USA; this species, and all other species within the Micraedes subgenus, remains understudied. The scientific literature contains no information pertaining to Cx. antillummagnorum’s oviposition behavior, habitat associations, or life history. Therefore, this study will contribute to the fundamental knowledge of an understudied mosquito species, and Culex subgenus, by examining the oviposition strategy and larval habitat selection of Cx. antillummagnorum– including how these behaviors may determine the distribution and abundance of this species within the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) in Puerto Rico. Culex antillummagnorum also demands further study in light of a decades-old question regarding its method of oviposition. Previous research has suggested that Cx. antillummagnorum displays an oviposition mode not previously documented in the genus Culex – specifically, the toxorhynchitine method of emitting single eggs while hovering above water. To test this in-flight oviposition hypothesis, gravid Cx. antillummagnorum females were obtained within the LEF and allowed to oviposit in cages; in this way, the egg-laying behavior of Cx. antillummagnorum was finally recorded. Additionally, phytotelmata units (bromeliad leaf axils, Heliconia bracts, and palm spathes) in the forest were systematically sampled, and the presence of Cx. antillummagnorum larvae, as well as a suite of environmental factors, was quantified. Through the extraction of common abiotic and biotic features of favored oviposition sites, oviposition preference can thus be inferred– enabling the further elucidation of how larval habitat selection determines the ecological, spatial, and temporal distribution of this understudied species.