Attachment behaviour of immatures of Mansonia annulifera (Theobald), 1901

The detachment and reattachment of the immatures of M. annulifera with their host plants (hydrophytes) is a regular phenomenon. This occurs frequently with the same plant, or with a different one, throughout the larval span. The duration between detachment and reattachment varied from 30 sec to one hour and majority of them get reattached within a minute. This behaviour is instinctive and not found to be influenced by food availability. In the absence of hydrophyte, early immature stages survive relatively longer (192 h), when compared to the late ones.