Transmission of Microsporidian Parasites of Mosquitoes.

Studies were conducted on dimorphic microsporidian parasites of the mosquitoes Culex peccator, Culex pilosus, Culiseta inornata, Aedes taeniorhynchus, and Deinocerties cancer. The parasites of C. pilosus D. cancer are unusual in that two types of spores presumably haploid and diploid are found simultaneously in the same tissue. Preliminary evidence suggests that the parasite in C. pilosus may be infectious per os. The parasite of C. inornata forms haploid spores in the gastric caeca of late instar larvae. An asexual sequence in adult females leads to infection of developing eggs where diploid spores may be observed. The dimorphic microsporidium which was studied in Aedes taeniorhynchus is characterized by a fringed exospore and lack of an apparent pansporoblast membrane. This parasite is vertically transmitted for only a single generation. Therefore all other transmission must be horizontal. Author