Piercing and sucking mouth parts sensilla of irradiated mosquito, Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) with gamma radiation

Abstract

Morphology, distribution and function of the sensilla associated with mouthparts of female mosquito, Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) were studied by using the scanning electron microscope. The female mosquito mouthpart is a piercing and sucking type and carrying many sensory organs which plays major role in host seeking, and oviposition behaviour of mosquitoes. Six types of mouthpart sensilla have been identified and described, Sensilla trichoidea, chaetica, basiconica, Capitate peg, campaniformia and squamiformia. Females mosquito were irradiated as pupae with 20, 40 and 80 Gy of gamma radiation to investigate their effect on mouthparts sensilla. Dose of 20 Gy had slight effect on the different types of the sensilla as compared with the control. Features of malformation observed in the maxillary palp segments at this radiation dose include falling of some scales (sensilla squamiformia) at certain parts of the 1st segment leaving vacuoles. At 40 Gy, the maxillary palp segments were liquefied in some areas leaving undistinguished shape. At the highest dose 80 Gy, the tip of labial palps had many tears and showed were most affected, especially, at the trichoid, basiconic and chateica sensilla. All these malformations may lead the mosquitoes to not reaching the host, impeding their ability to transmit diseases or killing the mosquitoes, and this is the main objective of this study.

A mosquito mouthpart-like bionic neural probe

“…Moreover, the protection of the brain from connective tissues such as the dura or arachnoid further challenge implantation of a probe (rigid or flexible) 18 , 19 . Implantation of the probe into brain tissue encounters similar challenges as mosquitoes face when hunting blood: uneven surface terrain (pores, body hair, and skin folds) and tough surface tissue (thicker epidermis) 29 . It is worth noting that mosquitoes have evolved flexible, multilayered, and multifunctional mouthparts to overcome these challenges during bloodsucking (Fig.…”

“…(2) Excellent and minimally invasive penetration of the thicker epidermis 27 , 28 . (3) Acute sensory skills rather than vision to find and locate blood vessels 29 . Inspired by these bionics concepts, we designed a flexible and reliable neural probe system to overcome the common difficulties and risks of the implantation process.…”

Diverse material properties and morphology of moth proboscises relates to the feeding habits of some macromoth and other lepidopteran lineages

“…Insect mouthparts provide compelling examples of structure and function relationships and support important components of natural selection, including convergent evolution [4,5] and coevolution [1,6,7]. Studies of insect mouthparts have become more interdisciplinary, often involving fields that span morphology [8][9][10], biomechanics [11][12][13], developmental biology [14,15], material sciences [16][17][18] and chemistry [19][20][21]. Although mouthparts have been studied from an array of insect lineages, the lepidopteran proboscis has notably experienced an increase in study abundance [22], likely due to their large biodiversity, important role as pollinators, and interesting feeding mechanism that is capable of transporting nanolitres of liquids from wetted surfaces to the gut [23].…”

Odorant receptors for floral- and plant-derived volatiles in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

“…ORs are transmembrane proteins expressed by odorant receptor neurons housed in hairlike projections called sensilla [15,16]. Sensilla sensory appendages such as antennae, maxillary palps, labella, and leg tarsi constitute the primary olfactory appendages in insects [17][18][19]. ORs are ligand-gated ion channels that respond to diverse, environmentally relevant volatile odorants [20].…”