Distinct navigation behaviors in Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquito larvae

Abstract

Mosquitoes spread deadly diseases that impact millions of people every year. Understanding mosquito physiology and behavior is vital for public health and disease prevention. However, many important questions remain unanswered in the field of mosquito neuroethology, particularly in our understanding of the larval stage. In this study, we investigate the innate exploration behavior of six different species of disease vector mosquito larvae. We show that these species exhibit strikingly different movement paths, corresponding to a wide range of exploration behaviors. We also investigated the response of each species to an appetitive food cue, aversive cue or neutral control. In contrast to the large differences in exploration behavior, all species appeared to gather near preferred cues through random aggregation rather than directed navigation, and exhibited slower speeds once encountering food patches. Our results identify key behavioral differences among important disease vector species, and suggest that navigation and exploration among even closely related mosquito species may be much more distinct than previously thought.

Carboxylic acid responses by a conserved odorant receptor in culicine vector mosquitoes

“…Future studies will be required to elucidate the cell‐specific expression pattern of Or48 . Straight chain CAs may serve as indicators of food sources for larval foraging, although their specific contributions to complex food sources has not been resolved (Lutz et al ., 2019; Lutz et al ., 2020; Reiskind and Janairo, 2018). The observed acute sensitivities of Or48 orthologs to straight chain CAs may correspond with reduced solubilities of these compounds in water, which has been hypothesized for another larval specific Or in Ae.…”

Imaging and spectral analysis of autofluorescence patterns in larval head structures of mosquito vectors

“… 56 Moreover, mosquito larvae are known to exhibit differences in exploration, stimulus preference and chemosensory navigation. 47 While both in Culex and Aedes the lateral palatal brushes are reported to extend anterolaterally, in Culex species their orientation is more oblique than in Ae. aegypti.…”

“…Finally, such expanded knowledge may have applied relevance to develop new strategies based on the use of chemicals reproducing the olfactory cues emitted by conspecific larvae and able to affect adult oviposition, 97 , 98 and to better inform larvicide application to improve mosquito control in the field. 47 …”

“…[39][40][41][42] The molecular and physiological machinery underlying olfaction in mosquito larvae, accounted by the expression of olfactory, ionotropic and gustatory receptors, is increasingly being elucidated. 38,41,[43][44][45][46][47][48] Up to now, only a few studies have focused on the characterization of AF in dipteran larvae. 13 For instance, AF emission signal detected as an overall broadband or as bands at increasing wavelengths along the visible spectrum has been applied to recognize morphological structures and organs to support comparative, taxonomic, developmental and physiological studies.…”

Olfactory systems across mosquito species

“…Mosquito larvae also exhibit chemosensory behaviours and express olfactory receptors (Bohbot et al 2007;Xia et al 2008;Liu et al 2010;Scialò et al 2012;Bui et al 2019;Melo et al 2020;Lutz et al 2020;Sun et al 2020a). Anopheles gambiae harbour olfactory neurons in their antennae and maxillary palps (Xia et al 2008;Riabinina et al 2016;Sun et al 2020a).…”