Prolonged hypoxia induced melanotic pseudotumors in the larvae of blood-sucking mosquitoes

Abstract

It was found that the presence of mosquito eggs in artificially created conditions of prolonged hypoxia causes the appearance of numerous melanotic pseudotumors in the larvae hatching from such eggs. In the cells of melanotic pseudotumors multilayer concentric membrane-like structures were found in the cytoplasm. In the immediate vicinity of such membranes, small spherical virus-like particles (VLP) with a diameter of about 30 nm were observed. The possible role of hypoxia in the development of melanotic pseudotumors of mosquito larvae is discussed