Woodbridge A. Foster

Updated: 14 April, 2000

• e-mail: wfoster@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
• s-mail: Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1220
• phone: 614-292-2204
• fax: 614-292-2180

• Associate Professor
• Medical Entomologist
• Ph.D. 1967 University of California, Berkeley

RESEARCH: The emphasis of research in my laboratory is the behavior, physiology, and behavioral ecology of arthropod vectors of vertebrate pathogens. I have advised and conducted research on a wide variety of topics in medical entomology. These include field and laboratory studies of bed bugs, blood-sucking maggots, dung flies, ticks, spiders, fleas, sand flies, tsetse flies, and mosquitoes. Some of these studies have been part of epidemiological investigations of encephalitis, leishmaniasis, Rocky Mtn. spotted fever, and Potomac horse fever. Major emphasis has been on two lines of investigation: 1) the role of plant sugar in mosquito biology and vectorial capacity, and 2) the phylogeny of courtship behavior in sabethine mosquitoes. Current mosquito investigations include the nutritional ecology of African malaria vectors, the species specificity and effectiveness of plant-nectar attractants, the modifiability of host preferences, and analysis of the courtship rituals of Venezuelan sabethines.

GRADUATE STUDENT ADVISEES:

• Richard E. Gary, Jr.
• Jeremy Wittie

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Taylor, R. M. and Foster, W. A. 1996. Spider nectarivory. Am. Entomol. 42: 82-86.

Philips, T. K., Hancock, R. G. and Foster, W. A. 1996. Epigamic display and unique mating position in Wyeomyia arthrostigma (Diptera: Culicidae). J. Insect Behav. 9: 739-753.

Hancock, R. G. and Foster, W. A. 1997. Larval and adult nutrition effects on the blood/nectar choice of Culex nigripalpus mosquitoes. Med. Vet. Entomol. 11: 112-122.

Foster, W. A. and Judd, D. D. 1998. Courtship behaviour and phylogeny of sabethine mosquitoes. Fourth International Congress of Dipterology, Oxford, U.K. Abstracts Volume, pp. 56-57.

Hancock, R. G. and Foster, W. A. 2000. Exogenous juvenile hormone and methoprene, but not male accessory gland substances and ovariectomy, affect the blood/nectar choice of Culex nigripalpus mosquitoes. Med. Vet. Entomol. (in press)

Gary, R. E., Jr. and Foster, W. A. 2000. The effect of available sugar on the reproductive fitness and vectorial capacity of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae). J. Med. Entomol. (in press)

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