Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2012 Apr;86(4):635-41. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0225.
Female Aedes aegypti are assumed to be primarily monandrous (i.e., mate only once in their lifetime), but true estimates of mating frequency have not been determined outside the laboratory. To assess polyandry in Ae. aegypti with first-generation progeny from wild mosquitoes, stable isotope semen-labeled males ((15)N or (13)C) were allowed to mate with unlabeled females in semifield enclosures (22.5 m(3)) in a dengue-endemic area in southern Mexico. On average, 14% of females were positive for both labels, indicating that they received semen from more than one male. Our results provide evidence of a small but potentially significant rate of multiple mating within a 48-hour period and provide an approach for future open-field studies of polyandry in this species. Polyandry has implications for understanding mosquito ecology, evolution, and reproductive behavior as well as genetic strategies for mosquito control.
雌性埃及伊蚊被认为主要是单配性的（即一生中只交配一次），但在实验室以外，尚未确定其交配频率的真实估计值。为了评估在登革热流行地区的半野外围栏（22.5 立方米）中，用第一代野生蚊子后代的埃及伊蚊的多配偶现象，用稳定同位素精液标记的雄性（(15)N 或 (13)C）与未标记的雌性进行交配。平均而言，有 14%的雌性对两种标记都呈阳性，这表明它们从多个雄性那里获得了精液。我们的结果提供了证据，证明在 48 小时内存在小但潜在重要的多次交配率，并为未来该物种的野外多配偶现象研究提供了一种方法。多配偶制对理解蚊子的生态、进化和繁殖行为以及蚊子控制的遗传策略都有影响。
