Laboratory of Ecology, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
J Med Entomol. 2013 Jul;50(4):838-46. doi: 10.1603/me12146.
The body size of mosquitoes can influence a number of bionomic factors, such as their blood-feeding ability, host attack rate, and fecundity. All of these traits are important determinants of their potential to transmit diseases. Among abiotic and biotic factors, high temperature and low nutrition in the developing stages of mosquitoes generally result in small adults. We studied the relationship between body size and multiple feeding in a gonotrophic cycle and some fecundity attributes by using three strains of two competent vector species, Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse). We raised small and large mosquitoes under low and high food conditions in the laboratory to measure parameters of fecundity and blood-feeding behavior. Fecundity was positively correlated with body size in both species, whereas the number of bloodmeals, the frequency of host-seeking behavior, and egg retention were negatively correlated with body size in the Ae. albopictus Nagasaki strain. We found that multiple feeding and host-seeking behavior were negatively correlated with body size, i.e., small mosquitoes tended to have more contact with hosts. We found that two mechanisms that inhibit engorged mosquitoes from seeking out hosts, distension-induced and oocyte-induced inhibition, were not strong enough to limit host-seeking behavior, and multiple feeding increased fecundity. Size-dependent multiple feeding and host-seeking behavior affect contact frequency with hosts and should be considered when predicting how changes in mosquito body size affect disease transmission.
蚊子的体型大小会影响许多生态学因素，例如它们的吸血能力、宿主攻击率和繁殖力。所有这些特征都是它们传播疾病的潜力的重要决定因素。在非生物和生物因素中，蚊子在发育阶段的高温和低营养通常会导致成虫体型较小。我们通过使用两种有能力的病媒物种（埃及伊蚊和白纹伊蚊）的三个品系来研究一个生殖周期内体型大小与多次吸血和一些繁殖属性之间的关系。我们在实验室中在低和高食物条件下饲养小大和大蚊子，以测量繁殖力和吸血行为的参数。在这两个物种中，繁殖力与体型大小呈正相关，而吸血次数、求偶行为的频率和卵的保留与白纹伊蚊长崎品系的体型大小呈负相关。我们发现多次吸血和求偶行为与体型大小呈负相关，即小蚊子往往与宿主有更多的接触。我们发现，两种抑制吸血后蚊子寻找宿主的机制，即膨胀诱导和卵母细胞诱导抑制，还不够强大，不能限制求偶行为，而多次吸血增加了繁殖力。体型大小依赖性的多次吸血和求偶行为会影响与宿主的接触频率，在预测蚊子体型大小的变化如何影响疾病传播时，应考虑这些因素。
