The Ecology of the Mosquito Larvae of New Guinea 
George H. Bick^ 
INTRODUCTION 
From September 1943 to January 1945 I was 
in New Guinea as Officer in Charge, U. S. 
Navy Malaria Control Team 25, and was 
stationed at Milne Bay, Morobe, Finsch- 
hafen, and Saidor, The entire period was spent 
in almost daily field collecting of larval mos- 
quitoes. During the same period Dr. George 
FI. Penn was stationed at Milne Bay, Amster- 
dam Island, and Woendi Island as Officer in 
Charge, U. S. Navy Malaria Control Team 
28. Before arriving in New Guinea we agreed 
to combine all collections and to record all 
habitat data on standard collection cards. 
This study is based on an analysis of the 
habitats utilized by 47 species of mosquitoes 
present in a total of 1,508 collections. The 
habitat records presented here are not the re- 
sults of opinions on habitat relationships; 
they are numerical analyses of all collection 
data. 
Comprehensive studies of the ecology of 
the mosquito larvae of New Guinea are com- 
pletely lacking. There are numerous scattered 
notes on habitat, especially for the more 
recently described species, and there are more 
detailed ecological studies of certain of the 
medically important species. But there is no 
broad ecological survey summarizing the ha- 
bitat relationships of all common species of 
this area. 
Some of the more important taxonomic 
works in which ecological notes may be 
found are those of Taylor (1914-1943), Flill 
(1925), Bonne-Wepster and Brug (1932, 
1937, 1939), Lee (1944^, 1946), Lee and 
Woodhill (1944), King and Hoogstraal 
^ Department of Zoology, Tulane University, New 
Orleans, Louisiana. Manuscript received November 
15 , 1950 . 
(1946-1947), and Marks (1947). Recently 
more detailed habitat studies of individual 
species of medical importance have been 
recorded by Horsfall and Porter (1947), 
Forbes and Horsfall (1947), and Penn (1947^). 
Acknowledgments. Many persons have as- 
sisted in this study. I wish to thank Professor 
Robert Matheson, Cornell University, for his 
friendly encouragement and counsel. Dr. 
George H. Penn, Tulane University, assisted 
in developing the collecting technique, and 
made many of the collections. My apprecia- 
tion is extended to the men of Malaria Con- 
trol Teams 25 and 28 (W. W. Bonds, H. W. 
Dorman, A. S. Griswold, J. E. Surgenor, 
W. T. Whitfield, P. B. Tompkins, O. L. 
Andrews, A. C. Bodenman, W. L. Schmid, 
R. E. Geiger, J. P. Gallagher, and M. A. 
Greenblatt) by whose efforts many collections 
were made, often under trying field condi- 
tions. Professor E. A. Perkins, University of 
Queensland, extended every courtesy, includ- 
ing the full facilities of his Department, and 
Miss Elizabeth Marks of the same institution 
identified many specimens and supplied im- 
portant literature aids. Dr. Alan Stone, U. S. 
National Museum, clarified many of the 
taxonomic problems. Dr. W. M. Rogoff and 
Dr. A. G. Humes supplied species lists to 
add to the distribution data. 
LOCALITIES STUDIED 
All collections were made within, or just 
adjacent to, military bases which in every 
case were situated along the North Coast. In 
general, these bases were built on strips of 
land lying between the ocean and the moun- 
tains, and varying in width from about a 
quarter of a mile to 5 miles. However, Woen- 
di and Amsterdam were small coral islands. 
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