Diel sugar-feeding and host-seeking rhythms in mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) under laboratory conditions.

Abstract

Mosquito sugar-feeding and host-seeking rhythms were recorded in the laboratory using remote sensors. In all five species studied, the two rhythms were nearly synchronous. In Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Aedes triseriatus (Say), host-seeking activity increased slightly earlier than sugar feeding in the evening. The evening sugar-feeding period was longer than the evening host-seeking period in Aedes aegypti (L.), but the two periods were of similar duration in Aedes albopictus (Skuse). In the morning, the only clear difference between the two behaviors occurred in Cx. quinquefasciatus, which had a host-seeking peak but lacked a sugar-feeding peak. When exposed concurrently to both host and sugar stimuli, sugar feeding practically ceased in Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti. In the presence of host stimuli, the sugar-feeding rhythms of An. quadrimaculatus, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and Ae. triseriatus differed from those obtained in the absence of host stimuli by having an earlier onset of evening activity, a relatively smaller evening activity peak, and a more irregular activity pattern during early scotophase, respectively. We concluded that inseminated, nulliparous females have nonspecific appetitive feeding periods, and that the order in which sugar and blood are sought largely may be a function of factors other than differences in diel rhythms.