Low humidity water-retention ability in Eretmapodites chrysogaster and Aedes albopictus

Measurements of the water-retention ability in adult Eretmapodites chrysogaster and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes indicate that the former conserves body fluids at low humidities, whereas the latter loses them. In spite of this, A. albopictus outlived E. chrysogaster under all conditions. It is suggested that these differences are due to a physiological accommodation in A. albopictus, which either suppresses the effects of tissue desiccation or prevents it through spiracular control and other moisture-regulating mechanisms. At low humidities, death in E. chrysogaster may result from flooding of vital organs with metabolic wastes which have accumulated in the trapped fluids.