Journal
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY
Volume 54, Issue 5, Pages 1116-1121Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjx079
Keywords
wingbeat frequency; premating behavior; acoustic communication; sound trap
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Funding
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [T32HD052471]
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Aedes aegypti (L.) males use female flight tone as a means of mate localization. By playing the sound of a flying female, males can be attracted to a trap to monitor mosquito populations and the progress of transgenic male releases. However, the female flight tone used to attract males needs to be optimized to maximize trap effectiveness. The fundamental frequency of female flight tone could be influenced by both body size and ambient temperature. However, no analysis yet has considered both the effect of body size and temperature on female flight tone of Ae. aegypti. Here, we present results for both these factors by recording the sounds of free-flying and tethered females across multiple temperature environments and with females reared for small, medium, and large body sizes. We demonstrate that female fundamental frequency is highly dependent on the environmental temperature, increasing similar to 8-13 Hz with each degrees C gain. Body size and whether a female was tethered or free-flying did not impact the relationship between frequency and temperature, although further analysis is warranted. Our study highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between flight tone and temperature, and will inform the design of male mosquito traps.
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