Undertook malaria epidemiology and vector research, with extensive surveys and village-based studies. The investigations of vector behaviour changes now are recognised as of international significance (by WHO and other authorities) and my conclusions on 'behavioural resistance' are described in several current textbooks and reviews on malaria control, etc. I also co-ordinated all staff training for the Programme, plus wider education in malaria for trainee nurses and teachers, and edited a staff newsletter. While acting Malariologist (1970), prepared detailed draft for 1970-75 WHO-BSIP Government agreement; also full job descriptions for all staff. As an ancillary activity, I took the opportunity to make extensive ecological and taxonomic studies of mosquitoes of islands of the south-west Pacific.

(see below Studies of Mosquitoes of the Southwest Pacific Islands.)

Malaria Entomology and Epidemiology Studies.

I undertook two main lines of research on malaria vectors. These were, the intensification and completion of studies of their distribution before insecticide operations, and, a study of suspected changes in their behaviour following the onset of those operations. The latter was coupled with epidemiological investigations of malaria outbreaks.

In the distribution studies, by myself and staff under my direction, well over 1000 locations were surveyed on all inhabited islands. I also made a comprehensive literature and records search, with the earliest report being from 1914. The extent of the surveys on Guadalcanal and Malaita enabled separation of localities by altitude, showing two species, Anopheles farauti and An. koliensis occurring up to 800m, and An. punctulatus limited to below 400m. Other differentiations were by breeding sites and islands. During collections on the isolated Rennell Island, a previously unknown species was found and this was described as An. rennellensis (Taylor & Maffi 1991). A further discovery, with possible potential as a biological control agent, was a new species of parasitic fungus, Coelomomyces couchii (Nolan & Taylor 1979), in larvae of An. farauti.

The suspected continued (or resumed) transmission of malaria despite excellent DDT house-spraying operations led to the second, perhaps more important line of research. In this regular all-night man-biting catches of malaria vectors were made over a period of 21 months , starting before and continuing after house-spraying, and involving some 1600 man-hours of mosquito trapping. Biting cycles were recorded for An. koliensis and An. punctulatus but neither was recorded after the start of spraying. The observations on An. farauti were very different and significant. Briefly, changes were observed in the man-biting behaviour, with a reduction in the degree of entry into houses and a shifting of the times of peak biting. Before spraying the indoor and outdoor cycles differed, after spraying there was no difference but both cycles had altered. DDT was found to have a deterrent effect but this decreased with time and there was no change in actual susceptibility to the insecticide. My conclusion was that DDT appeared to eliminate a dominant indoor and late-night feeding fraction of the original farauti population, after which there was an increase in a, previously minor, outdoor and early-night feeding fraction. This change could lead to a resumption of malaria transmission, especially in areas where patterns of human behaviour also changed, so that significant numbers of people were outside for some time after sunset. I reinforced the entomological research with a number of careful investigations of malaria outbreaks, some induced by poor case detection and treatment, and some due to shortcomings and breakdowns in spraying operations.

PUBLICATIONS

Taylor, B. (1971) Exophily of Anopheles farauti as a possible problem in the B.S.I.P. Discussion paper, 4th Inter-territorial Malaria Conference, Sydney, October 1971, 5pp.
Taylor, B. (1972a) Laboratory observations on the timing of flight activity in mosquitoes. Paper presented at the 14th International Congress of Entomology, Canberra, 1p (abstract).
Taylor, B. (1975a) Observations on malaria vectors of the Anopheles punctulatus complex in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Journal of Medical Entomology, 11, 677-687.
Taylor, B. (1975b) Changes in the feeding behaviour of a malaria vector, Anopheles farauti Lav., following use of DDT as a residual spray in houses in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, 127, 277-292.
Nolan, R.A. & Taylor, B. (1979) Coelomomyces couchii, n.sp., a fungal parasite of larval Anopheles (Cellia) farauti (Diptera: Culicidae) from Gizo Island (Solomon Islands). Journal of Medical Entomology, 16, 297-299.
Taylor, B. & Maffi, M. (1991) Anopheles (Cellia) rennellensis, a new species within the punctulatus complex of Anopheles (Diptera, Culicidae) from Rennell Island. The Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands, 8, 195-197.
Taylor, B. (1994a) Malaria transmission - mosquitoes, humans and their behaviour. Antenna, 18, 18-22.

Technical Reports -
Most of these can now be read on this website starting from Malaria Introduction.
Taylor, B. (1970a) Report on a field trip to the Russell Islands, 23-27 February 1970. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 4pp.
Taylor, B. (1970b) Malaria Focus Investigations. Procedural documentation, Malaria Eradication Programme, Solomon Islands, 2pp., plus 3 record forms.
Taylor, B. (1972c) Future programme of malaria entomology work. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp.
Taylor, B. (1972d) Report on a visit to Kira Kira, 11th to 18th April 1972. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 1pp.
Taylor, B. (1972e) General report on malaria eradication programme, Eastern District, April 1972. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp.
Taylor, B. (1972f) Bed bug control. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp.
Taylor, B. (1972g) Deterrent effect of DDT - A preliminary report on work at Arohane, San Cristobal. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 1pp.
Taylor, B. (1972h) Cessation of spraying and surveillance - Bush areas of Guadalcanal. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 3pp.
Taylor, B. (1973b) The timing of spraying operations - San Cristobal, Zone 94, East Bauro. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp.
Taylor, B. (1973c) Operational failures in cyclical spraying operations - the consequences. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 1pp.
Taylor, B. (1973d) Surveillance operations on Choiseul, 1972 - an analysis. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 3pp.
Taylor, B. (1973e) A study of a malaria epidemic. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 3pp.
Taylor, B. (1973f) Government Entomologist tour report - Berande River Valley Zones 5 and 12 - 5-7 February 1973. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 4pp.
Taylor, B. (1973g) Entomological surveys of major river valleys, Guadalcanal, November 1972 to February 1973. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 1pp.
Taylor, B. (1973h) Tour of Choiseul and Shortlands, March 15-23, 1973. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp. Taylor, B. (1973i) Malaria foci on Choiseul. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 2pp.
Taylor, B. (1973j) Revision of spraying policy. Malaria Technical Operations Report, Solomon Islands, 3pp.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
My internal reports on the above research, coupled with my epidemiological analyses of malaria outbreaks, led me to urge absolute efficiency in spraying and case detection operations, but this met with antipathy from the malariologists. The passage of time, regrettably, has shown my analysis to be correct and my warnings to be wholly justified, with serious epidemics of malaria in recent times. In 1984, Dr. Mahon (see Citations) made a further study of the An. farauti situation and commented on my - "careful documentation of the changes in behaviour". Techniques now available for separation of morphologically identical members of species complexes may mean that my interpretation of the indoor and outdoor fractions actually demonstrated the existence of two sibling species but would not diminish the veracity and significance of my findings. For instance, D.H. Foley and colleagues (1994, see Citations) have separated three forms, farauti No.1 (probably the species sensu stricto) No.2 and No.7, but only No.1 was man-biting. In addition to the specific Citations of my findings, there have been several recent tacit mentions of the significance of "behavioural resistance"; for instance, by Collins & Paskewitz¹ in a major review, also Desowitz² has described how mosquitoes learned to "quickly bugger off to the great outdoors", and An. farauti is listed as an example by Gilles & Warrell³. S.R. Meek⁴, coordinator for the UK Malaria Consortium described how, of Solomon Is. farauti No.1, "there is ample data showing (present) biting outdoors and early in the evening......In the past spraying was more likely to work, as the vector had shown a peak biting around midnight, when most people were indoors".
[¹ Collins, F.H. & Paskewitz, S.M. 1995. Malaria: Current and future prospects for control. Annual Review of Entomology, 40, 195-219. ² Desowitz, R. 1993. The Malaria Capers. Norton. ³ Gilles, H.M. & Warrell, D.A. 1993. Bruce Chwatt's Essential Malariology. Edward Arnold, London. ⁴ Meek, S.R. 1995. Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology, 89, 135-147.]

Citations
Taylor 1975a
Sollers, R.H. 1975. Mosquito News, 35, 253.
Brown, P. 1976. American Journal of Tropical Medicine, 25, 775
Mahon, R.J. 1984. WHO Assignment Report.
Cooper, L. 1991. Experimental Parasitology, 73, 27.
Foley, D.H. 1991. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, 30, 269.
Foley, D.H. 1993. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 7, 37.
Foley, D.H. 1994. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 8, 340.

Taylor 1975b
Service, M.W. 1977. In Ecological Effects of Pesticides. Linnean Society Symposium Series No.5.
Mahon, R.J. 1984. WHO Assignment Report.
Charlwood, J.D. 1986. Journal of Medical Entomology, 23, 132.
Okazawa, T. 1991. J. American Mosquito Control Association, 7, 604.
Foley, D.H. 1993. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 7, 37.
Hii, J.L.K. 1993. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 7, 333.
Lindsay, S.W. 1993. Transactions of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 87, Supp.2., 45-51.
Service, M.W. 1993. Mosquito Ecology - Field Sampling Methods. 2nd Edn. Chapman & Hall, London.
Foley, D.H. 1994. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 8, 340.
Chang, M.S. 1995. J. Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 98, 192.

Taylor & Maffi 1991
Foley, D.H. 1994. Medical & Veterinary Entomology, 8, 340.
Harbach, R.E. 1994. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 84, 331.

Studies of Mosquitoes of the Southwest Pacific Islands.

Principally between 1969 and 1973, but with some later field work by my associate, the late Dr. Mario Maffi, we made extensive collections of mosquitoes (all life stages) in many of the numerous islands of the Southwest Pacific. This was supported informally by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Honolulu Hawaii, as a voluntary collaboration with their Mosquitoes of the Papuan Sub-Region Project. For the Solomon Islands, separate publications cover the main islands, the Santa Cruz faunal sub-area, and the Rennell and Bellona group. For the Republic of Vanuatu, the results are separated into the Banks & Torres Islands and the main Vanuatu islands. All the papers have separate species lists for each island, or island group, and the fullest possible notes on the bionomics of each species. Specific taxonomic papers have descriptions of four new or previously incompletely described species, Aedes hoguei (Taylor & Maffi 1971), Aedes horotoi (Taylor 1972b), Aedes maffii (Taylor & Tenorio 1974) and Anopheles rennellensis (Maffi 1973a, Taylor & Maffi 1991). In the major paper, covering the main Solomon Islands, we report that, with some aid from colleagues, we collected 80 of the 99 known species and partially described forms, plus five probable new species. We established 200 new distribution records, many on islands where no prior collections had been made. The paper also contains a classification of the many larval habitats.

I personally did all the identification work on adult specimens and much of that on juvenile stages. I checked existing collections in Los Angeles, London and Sydney; identified previously unclassified material held in the Bishop Museum and the Copenhagen Zoological Museum; prepared all the numerous distribution maps; and, also undertook the extensive historical review of reports going back to 1914. The Bishop Museum paid all necessary page charges, provided some equipment, met transportation costs, paid Dr.Tenorio and an artist, and gave me a Visiting Fellowship in 1973.

PERSONAL PUBLICATIONS -
Taylor, B. & Maffi, M. (1971) Contribution to the knowledge of Aedes (Stegomyia) hoguei Belkin 1962 (Diptera: Culicidae). Pacific Insects, 13, 119-121
Taylor, B. (1972b) A new species of Aedes from San Cristobal, British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Journal of Medical Entomology, 9, 317-318
Taylor, B. (1973a) The mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) of Rennell and Bellona, a further contribution. The Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands, 7, 61-71
Maffi, M. & Taylor, B. (1974) The mosquitoes of the Santa Cruz faunal subarea of the Southwest Pacific (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology, 11, 197-210
Taylor, B. & Tenorio, J.A. (1974) Aedes (Finlaya) maffii, a new species of mosquito from the British Solomon Islands (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology, 11, 577-581
Maffi, M. & Taylor, B. (1977) The mosquitoes of the Banks and Torres Islands groups of the South Pacific (Diptera: Culicidae). Pacific Insects, 17, 511-522.
Taylor, B. & Maffi, M. (1978) A review of the mosquito fauna of the Solomon Islands (Diptera: Culicidae). Pacific Insects, 19, 165-248
Taylor, B. (1989a) Imagos of mosquitoes collected in Vanuatu, 1987. Identification and comments. Rivista di Parassitologia, 6, 13-15.

Collaborative (but unnamed) contributions -
Maffi, M. (1973a) Morphological observations on a population of the punctulatus complex of Anopheles (Diptera, Culicidae) from Rennell Island (Solomon Group). The Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands, 7, 29-40
Maffi, M. (1973b) The mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) of Rennell and Bellona. The Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands, 7, 41-60.
Maffi, M. (1977) Contribution to the knowledge of the mosquito fauna of the New Hebrides island group proper (Diptera: Culicidae). Rivista di Parassitologia, 38, 193-214
Maffi, M. (1989) The mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) of Vanuatu. A further contribution. Rivista di Parassitologia, 6, 3-11.

Citations
All but the latest papers were reviewed in The Culicidae of the Australasian Region. Vols. 1-12, Commonwealth Department of Health, Canberra.
Taylor 1973a
Elliott, S.A. 1980. Trans. of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 74, 747.

Maffi & Taylor 1974
Sollers, R.H. 1974. Mosquito News, 34, 484.
Brown, P. 1976. American Journal of Tropical Medicine, 25, 775.
Susuki, T. 1977. New Zealand Medical Journal, 85, 374.
Elliott, S.A. 1980. Trans. of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 74, 747.

Taylor & Tenorio, 1974
Sollers, R.H. 1975. Mosquito News, 35, 117.

Maffi & Taylor 1977
Elliott, S.A. 1980. Trans. of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 74, 747.

Taylor & Maffi 1978
Goff, M.L. 1980. Pacific Insects, 22, 178.
Elliott, S.A. 1980. Trans. of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 74, 747.
Okazawa, T. 1991. J. American Mosquito Control Association, 7, 604.

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