Abstract
Swarming is a key part of the natural system of reproduction of anopheline mosquito populations, and a better understanding of swarming and mating systems in a targeted species in its natural habitat would contribute to better design control strategies with a greater chance of success. Our study investigated the monthly occurrence of swarming and the mating frequency (within swarms) of Anopheles arabiensis in Dioulassoba, Burkina Faso and their relationship with local environmental factors. Mosquitoes collected from swarms were described in terms of body size, recent sugar meal intake, and female repletion, insemination, and Plasmodium falciparum infection status. Swarms of An. arabiensis were found in each month of the year. Both start and end times of swarming varied significantly between months, correlating with the time of sunset. Swarming mostly started after or coincided with sunset from late July to early October but occurred before sunset from late October to early July. Swarming duration, the number of mosquitoes and mating pairs per swarm, and time to first mating were significantly different between months in an inverse relationship with the monthly rainfall. The number of mating pairs was strongly and positively correlated with swarm size. Almost all the females caught in copula were inseminated but a very few were blood fed; no P. falciparum infection was observed. Males caught in copula and in solo were similar in body size and in the proportion which had taken a recent sugar meal. Our investigations showed that An. arabiensis reproductive activities are most frequent during the dry season, suggesting either the species’ preference for dry climatic conditions or a lack of available breeding sites during the rainy season due to the seasonal flooding in this area. Targeting interventions to kill mosquitoes in swarms or to achieve an over-flooding ratio of sterile males during the rainy season would increase their efficiency in reducing the population density of this vector.
Highlights
Malaria remains one of the most challenging vector-borne diseases to control even though its incidence was estimated to have fallen by around 41% globally between 2000 and 2015 [1]
The mating swarm is a key feature of male biology in many mosquito species, an aggregate of males into which individual females enter for mating [7], and as such is a key part of the natural system of reproduction
Knowing that the ecology of mosquito reproduction is impacted by environmental factors including climate-based and man-made factors [24], the development and/or implementation of control tools relying on male biology requires a deep understanding of the swarm system of the target species in the target area
Summary
Malaria remains one of the most challenging vector-borne diseases to control even though its incidence was estimated to have fallen by around 41% globally between 2000 and 2015 [1]. Novel strategies of control are based on mating biology [3,4,5,6], so male biology must be considered and a better understanding of the ecology of mosquito reproduction is crucial. Several studies have investigated the swarming systems of different species belonging to the genera Anopheles [8,9,10,11,12,13], Aedes [14] and Culex [15]. Knowing that the ecology of mosquito reproduction is impacted by environmental factors including climate-based and man-made factors [24], the development and/or implementation of control tools relying on male biology requires a deep understanding of the swarm system of the target species in the target area
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