The Antenna Base Plays a Crucial Role in Mosquito Courtship Behavior

Abstract

Mosquitoes are vectors of diseases like malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. For mosquito control it is crucial to understand their hearing system, as mosquitoes' courting behavior is mostly auditory. Many nonlinear characteristics of the mosquito hearing organ have been observed through behavioral studies and neural measurements. These enable mosquitoes to detect and synchronize to other mosquitoes. Many hypotheses concerning the role of the flagellum and the fibrillae of the antenna in mosquito hearing have been made, and neural processes have been considered as the origin of the nonlinearities. In this study we introduce a geometric model based on the morphology of the mosquito antenna base. The model produces many of the observed nonlinear characteristics, providing evidence that the base of the antenna plays a crucial role in mosquito hearing. Even without neural processing, the antenna response to sound produces behaviorally relevant cues that can inform about the presence, location and sex of other mosquitoes.