Adult female mosquitoes need blood to develop their eggs and both sexes use nectar and honeydew as carbohydrate resources for flight, survival and to enhance reproduction. However, there are also a few reports in the literature of mosquitoes feeding on haemolymph of soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars. The frequency and significance of this entomophagous behavior is not well understood, bu...

Larvae of the mosquito Toxorhynchites rutilus (Coquillett) prey upon other container-dwelling insects, including larvae of Aedes albopictus (Skuse), which is native to Asia but was introduced into the United States, and on the native tree hole mosquito Ochlerotatus triseriatus (Say). Previous work has established that O. triseriatus adopts low-risk behaviors in the presence of predation risk fr...

Blood-feeding arthropod vectors are responsible for transmitting many parasites between vertebrate hosts. While arthropod vectors often feed on limited subsets of potential host species, little is known about the extent to which this influences the distribution of vector-borne parasites in some systems. Here, we test the hypothesis that different vector species structure parasite-host relations...

In the midgut of the mosquito Aedes aegypti, a vector of dengue and yellow fever, an intense release of heme and iron takes place during the digestion of a blood meal. Here, we demonstrated via chromatography, light absorption and mass spectrometry that xanthurenic acid (XA), a product of the oxidative metabolism of tryptophan, is produced in the digestive apparatus after the ingestion of a blo...

The need to develop effective management strategies for insectivorous bat populations requires an understanding of factors influencing habitat use. Availability of pest prey, such as mosquitoes is likely to be one such factor. To assess whether this is the case, we radio-tracked Vespadelus vulturnus Thomas (little forest bat), a predator of Aedes vigilax Skuse (saltmarsh mosquito), in saltmarsh...

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of seven pyrethroid insecticides for impregnation of mosquito nets, six currently recommended by WHO and one candidate (bifenthrin), under laboratory conditions. METHODS Tests were conducted using pyrethroid-susceptible and pyrethroid-resistant strains of Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus. Knock-down effect, irritancy and mortality were measured us...

Salivary gland protein profiles ofAedes aegypti (L.) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) pre- and post-blood feeding were analyzed. SDS-PAGE studies before blood feeding of Ae. aegypti demonstrated 8 major polypeptide bands of 20, 35, 37, 42, 45, 47, 70 kDa and a high molecular weight band >118 kDa, whereas those of Cx. quinquefasciatus demonstrated 9 major polypeptide bands of 20, 26, 36, 38, 45,...

Aedes albopictus mosquito is an opportunistic blood feeder and has a broad host range. The feeding behavior and habits of this mosquito are liable to increase the transmission potential of arboviruses. The survival and fecundity in A. albopictus fed on different hosts and post-blood meal provision of sugar were investigated in a laboratory-reared colony. Adult survival of caged female A. albopi...

The yellow-fever mosquito Aedes aegypti is a major vector of human diseases, such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and West Nile viruses. Chemoreceptor organs on the labella and tarsi are involved in human host evaluation and thus serve as potential foci for the disruption of blood feeding behavior. In addition to host detection, these contact chemoreceptors mediate feeding, oviposition and...

Mosquito salivary glands (SG) play an essential role in food digestion and pathogen transmission. The function of the salivary components during infection is poorly understood. In this study, female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were infected with dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2) via an artificial membrane feeding apparatus. The mosquito SGs were examined for DENV-2 infection for 14 days post-infect...