Sella’s stages [1], which indicate blood-digestion intervals. They are useful to record blood digestion status for each female mosquito, as well as readiness for egg laying.
Sella’s stages comprise:
Stage I (unfed), the abdomen is collapsed, and the ovaries occupy one third of the abdomen;
Stage II (freshly fed), stomach with red blood, ovaries occupying 2–3 segments ventrally and 4 dorsally;
Stage III–IV (half gravid), blood is dark red, ovaries occupying 4–5 segments ventrally and 6 dorsally;
Stage V (subgravid), blood greatly reduced and dark in color, ovaries occupying most of abdomen;
Stage VI–VII (gravid), blood only a black trace, a narrow blackish line or completely digested.
Notes
edit1 WHO [World Health Organization]. 1975. Manual on practical entomology in malaria, part II. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
- ^ WHO, 1975