Adult cohorts and immature stages were kept under field
conditions during the autumn and winter of three consecutive
years. Survival, oviposition and development time from egg to
adult were considered. The adult cohorts were studied under
three experimental conditions: unfed cohorts, cohorts fed with
sugar solution and cohorts fed with both sugar solution and
blood (chicken). Female longevity showed significant
differences among the three treatments. Females of unfed
cohorts lived up to three weeks; females fed with sugar
solution survived until six weeks, while those fed both with
sugar and blood lived at most fourteen weeks; after the blood
intake eggs were laid. In the immature stages, the highest
relative mortality rates occurred during the egg and larval
stages. Total pre-adult mortality varied between 59.09 and
89.71%. The developmental duration from egg to adult was
between 43-62 days; there were no differences among results
obtained for the three years.
