Cribellier Antoine, van Erp Jens A, Hiscox Alexandra, Lankheet Martin J, van Leeuwen Johan L, Spitzen Jeroen, Muijres Florian T
Experimental Zoology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
R Soc Open Sci. 2018 Aug 8;5(8):180246. doi: 10.1098/rsos.180246. eCollection 2018 Aug.
Host-seeking mosquitoes rely on a range of sensory cues to find and approach blood hosts, as well as to avoid host detection. By using odour blends and visual cues that attract anthropophilic mosquitoes, odour-baited traps have been developed to monitor and control human pathogen-transmitting vectors. Although long-range attraction of such traps has already been studied thoroughly, close-range response of mosquitoes to these traps has been largely ignored. Here, we studied the flight behaviour of female malaria mosquitoes () in the immediate vicinity of a commercially available odour-baited trap, positioned in a hanging and standing orientation. By analysing more than 2500 three-dimensional flight tracks, we elucidated how mosquitoes reacted to the trap, and how this led to capture. The measured flight dynamics revealed two distinct stereotypical behaviours: (i) mosquitoes that approached a trap tended to simultaneously fly downward towards the ground; (ii) mosquitoes that came close to a trap changed their flight direction by rapidly accelerating upward. The combination of these behaviours led to strikingly different flight patterns and capture dynamics, resulting in contrasting short-range attractiveness and capture mechanism of the oppositely oriented traps. These new insights may help in improving odour-baited traps, and consequently their contribution in global vector control strategies.
寻找宿主的蚊子依靠一系列感官线索来寻找并接近血液宿主，同时避免被宿主发现。通过使用吸引嗜人蚊子的气味混合物和视觉线索，已开发出气味诱捕器来监测和控制传播人类病原体的媒介。尽管此类诱捕器的远距离吸引力已得到充分研究，但蚊子对这些诱捕器的近距离反应在很大程度上被忽视了。在此，我们研究了雌性疟蚊（）在市售气味诱捕器附近的飞行行为，诱捕器分别以悬挂和直立的方向放置。通过分析2500多条三维飞行轨迹，我们阐明了蚊子对诱捕器的反应方式以及这是如何导致捕获的。所测量的飞行动力学揭示了两种不同的刻板行为：（i）接近诱捕器的蚊子往往同时朝着地面向下飞行；（ii）靠近诱捕器的蚊子通过快速向上加速来改变飞行方向。这些行为的组合导致了截然不同的飞行模式和捕获动态，从而使方向相反的诱捕器在近距离吸引力和捕获机制方面形成对比。这些新见解可能有助于改进气味诱捕器，进而提高它们在全球媒介控制策略中的作用。
