Void Entry By Aedes Aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes Is Lower Than Would Be Expected By A Randomized Search

Keywords

Disease control; Insect control; Insect flight; Insect sensing; Probability

Abstract

Insects enter every passable space on the planet. Despite our best efforts, flying insects infiltrate slightly open windows in domiciles, automobiles, storage spaces, and more. Is this ubiquitous experience a consequence of insect abundance and probability, or are flying insects adept at detecting passageways? There remains a lack of understanding of insect effectiveness in finding passage through the voids and imperfections in physical barriers in response to attractants, a topic particularly critical to the area of insect-borne disease control. In this study, we recorded the passage of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes through voids in vertically oriented bed net fabrics within a cylindrical flight arena. We model the probability mosquitoes will discover and navigate the void in response to a physical attractant by observing their search behavior and quantifying the region within a void that is physically navigable, constrained by body size. Void passage rates were lower than that would be expected by purely randomized search behaviors and decline rapidly as the void diameter approaches the in-flight width of the insect.

Publication Date

11-1-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Insect Science

Volume

18

Issue

6

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey115

Socpus ID

85057163848 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85057163848

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