Auditory sensory range of male mosquitoes for the detection of female flight sound

Abstract

Male mosquitoes detect and localize conspecific females by their flight-tones using the Johnston's organ (JO), which detects antennal deflections under the influence of local particle motion. Acoustic behaviours of mosquitoes and their JO physiology have been investigated extensively within the frequency domain, yet the auditory sensory range and the behaviour of males at the initiation of phonotactic flights are not well known. In this study, we predict a maximum spatial sensory envelope for flying Culex quinquefasciatus by integrating the physiological tuning response of the male JO with female aeroacoustic signatures derived from numerical simulations. Our sensory envelope predictions were tested with a behavioural assay of free-flying males responding to a female-like artificial pure tone. The minimum detectable particle velocity observed during flight tests was in good agreement with our theoretical prediction formed by the peak JO sensitivity measured in previous studies. The iso-surface describing the minimal detectable particle velocity represents the quantitative auditory sensory range of males and is directional with respect to the female body orientation. Our results illuminate the intricacy of the mating behaviour and point to the importance of observing the body orientation of flying mosquitoes to understand fully the sensory ecology of conspecific communication.

Multisensory integration in Anopheles mosquito swarms: The role of visual and acoustic information in mate tracking and collision avoidance

“…2A). Acoustic cues were presented from the front because sounds traveling along the horizontal plane are effective at being detected by mosquitoes than sounds traveling in the vertical plane ( 87 ). To verify that the sounds were playing during audio stimulus delivery, the unused stereophone channel was placed outside the simulation arena along with a calibrated particle velocity microphone (Knowles NR-23158, Ithaca, NY, USA) coupled to an audio interface (M2 interface, MOTU, Cambridge, MA, USA) for digitizing sound input.…”

“…The sounds were synthetically generated in MATLAB and presented at a particle velocity of about 0.04 mm/s, which is about the sound intensity generated by this species at a distance of 2 cm ( 62 ). Such pure tones have been found to be effective at eliciting natural, acoustically guided behaviors in mosquitoes ( 87 , 91 ).…”

3D Audio-Visual Recordings of Mosquito Wings for Aeroacoustic Simulation

“…The chase between female and male in mating swarms involves highly controlled variations in the frequency and intensity of flight-tones (i.e. sounds generated by the flapping wings) [3][4][5][6][7] with concurrent changes in flight speed and direction [8,9], and enables detection of conspecifics [9,10], possible display of fitness and transmission of mating interest [11,12]. However, despite over a century and a half of research [13], significant knowledge gaps continue to exist in our understanding of this behavior.…”

“…However, despite over a century and a half of research [13], significant knowledge gaps continue to exist in our understanding of this behavior. To decipher this courtship dance, entomologists must integrate acoustic, energetic and flight information for untethered, freeflying mosquitoes, but the tools that can provide these data have, so far, been limited [9,14]. In the present study, we combine the computational biomechanics and acoustics, and behavioral entomology, to generate data and insights into the biomechanics and physics of courtship-associated acoustic communication in mosquitoes.…”