How mosquitoes see traps: role of visual responses.

The visual responses of female mosquitoes during appetitive and attraction flights to conspicuous features of their environment were reviewed. These studies showed for both flights long-range orientation (positive) could be followed by a short-range response (negative) to avoid the goal. In conjunction with the optomotor anemotactic response, appetitive flights are controlled by visual orientation toward more or less distant targets, which permits females to make a wider search than upwind flight along could accomplish. Most attraction flights are controlled primarily by visual and olfactory cues. The influence of visual targets upon mosquito flight behavior and the effect of this behavior upon trap catches is discussed.