Authors:

Yu-Wei Cheng

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About Paper:

Mosquitoes, like other organisms, have sensory filters tuned to detect and integrate ecologically relevant information. Given that female mosquitoes depend on the nutrients from blood meals for egg production, they detect and integrate relevant host-emitted cues to successfully feed. This process results in differential attractiveness to different host species. While much is known about host preferences of human-biting mosquitoes, less is known about non-human biting mosquitoes. Frog-biting mosquitoes, for instance, encounter and attack multiple anuran species but the consequences of biting different hosts are unknown. We hypothesize that female mosquitoes preferentially obtain blood from hosts that provide easier access to blood and the highest reward by maximizing egg production. To test this hypothesis, we examined the feeding behavior of Uranotaenia lowii, a frog-biting mosquito on six different frogs including species that are native, invasive, and allopatric to their geographic distribution. To examine the feeding behavior, we video recorded frog-biting mosquitoes attacking each frog species. By also examining egg production and larval development of the offspring resulting from feeding on different frog species, we evaluated the fitness consequences of such choices. This study contributes to our understanding of mosquito feeding preferences and their implications for host targeting strategies. Keywords: Blood-Feeding; Fitness Consequences; Host-Seeking; Egg Production; Feeding Behavior

Source:

Purdue University / 2024

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Co-authors:

Yu-Wei Cheng