Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.

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 cater...

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Autores principales:	Justin George, Simon Blanford, Matthew B Thomas, Thomas C Baker
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c2bee0647e3945ebb84e0062e75efa88
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c2bee0647e3945ebb84e0062e75efa882021-11-25T05:54:34ZMalaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0108894https://doaj.org/article/c2bee0647e3945ebb84e0062e75efa882014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108894https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Adult 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, but is thought to be a vestige of ancestral feeding behavior or an opportunistic behavior that has evolved over time. In our current paper we investigated the extent to which the malaria mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, is attracted to, and can successfully feed on, larvae of two common moth species, Manduca sexta and Heliothis subflexa. Using y-tube olfactometer assays we found that female An. stephensi readily flew upwind to and landed on the caterpillars of both moth species. The nature of the volatile cues used in host location remains unclear but respirometer studies suggest a possible role of CO2. Laboratory cage assays further showed that the female mosquitoes were able to actively feed on moth larvae and gain sufficient nutritional benefit to influence survival. The extent to which such an opportunistic behavior occurs in the field has yet to be explored but our results suggest that this haemolymph feeding behavior could play a role in malaria mosquito life history and could provide a novel mechanism for horizontal transmission of pathogens and other micro-organisms between hosts.Justin GeorgeSimon BlanfordMatthew B ThomasThomas C BakerPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e108894 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Justin George Simon Blanford Matthew B Thomas Thomas C Baker Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
description	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, but is thought to be a vestige of ancestral feeding behavior or an opportunistic behavior that has evolved over time. In our current paper we investigated the extent to which the malaria mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, is attracted to, and can successfully feed on, larvae of two common moth species, Manduca sexta and Heliothis subflexa. Using y-tube olfactometer assays we found that female An. stephensi readily flew upwind to and landed on the caterpillars of both moth species. The nature of the volatile cues used in host location remains unclear but respirometer studies suggest a possible role of CO2. Laboratory cage assays further showed that the female mosquitoes were able to actively feed on moth larvae and gain sufficient nutritional benefit to influence survival. The extent to which such an opportunistic behavior occurs in the field has yet to be explored but our results suggest that this haemolymph feeding behavior could play a role in malaria mosquito life history and could provide a novel mechanism for horizontal transmission of pathogens and other micro-organisms between hosts.
format	article
author	Justin George Simon Blanford Matthew B Thomas Thomas C Baker
author_facet	Justin George Simon Blanford Matthew B Thomas Thomas C Baker
author_sort	Justin George
title	Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
title_short	Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
title_full	Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
title_fullStr	Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
title_full_unstemmed	Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
title_sort	malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/c2bee0647e3945ebb84e0062e75efa88
work_keys_str_mv	AT justingeorge malariamosquitoeshostlocateandfeeduponcaterpillars AT simonblanford malariamosquitoeshostlocateandfeeduponcaterpillars AT matthewbthomas malariamosquitoeshostlocateandfeeduponcaterpillars AT thomascbaker malariamosquitoeshostlocateandfeeduponcaterpillars
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Malaria mosquitoes host-locate and feed upon caterpillars.

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