A comparison of active hearing in male and female Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti, the dengue-fever mosquito

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event A comparison of active hearing in male and female Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti, the dengue-fever mosquito Kathleen M. Lucas1* and Daniel Robert1 1 University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, United Kingdom As weak sound emitters, mosquitoes are faced with the difficult task of detecting the flight sounds of passing conspecifics, and as a result are equipped with sophisticated hearing organs for sound detection. Male and female mosquitoes use these flight sounds to find each other in a swarm by detecting the particle velocity component of sound using their antennae. Recent studies show that both males and females use sound not only to find each other, but also for sexual recognition, species identification, and mate selection by engaging in harmonic convergence behaviour. While sound detection is important for both male and female mosquitoes, the morphology of their antennae differs, suggesting a functional difference may exist. To explore this, we are studying hearing in the dengue-fever mosquito Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti. Johnston’s organ (JO), which is the mechanosensory structure at the base of the antennal flagellum responding to nanoscale vibrations, contains over 16 000 sensory neurons in male S. aegypti and 7500 in females. These neurons have been shown to have a dual sensory and motor function that actively enhances the mechanical response of the antenna to sound increasing its detection range. Based on the discrepancy in number of JO neurons, we asked if male and female mosquitoes have different active hearing responses to biologically-relevant stimuli, and whether these differences are reflected at the neural level. When presented with an amplitude-modulated single-frequency tone to mimic a conspecific flyby, both male and female antenna displayed amplification, though in the case of the male this amplification was higher and displayed hysteresis. Simultaneous extracellular neural recordings in JO showed that males have a larger proportion of cells firing at twice the stimulus frequency as females. This twice-frequency forcing is an expression of the synchronization of sets of neurons that mediate active sensing as predicted by modelling. These results suggest that while males and females may both use sound during courtship, the males are equipped with more sensitive hearing in order to detect and follow a female. Acknowledgements Human Frontier Science Program Keywords: Active audition, Extracellular neurophysiology, Hearing, Laser Döppler Vibrometry, mosquito Conference: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster (but consider for participant symposium and student poster award) Topic: Communication Citation: Lucas KM and Robert D (2012). A comparison of active hearing in male and female Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti, the dengue-fever mosquito. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00342 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Ms. Kathleen M Lucas, University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Bristol, United Kingdom, katiemlucas@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Kathleen M Lucas Daniel Robert Google Kathleen M Lucas Daniel Robert Google Scholar Kathleen M Lucas Daniel Robert PubMed Kathleen M Lucas Daniel Robert Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.