Power requirements in hovering flight of mosquitoes

Abstract

Mosquitoes exhibit distinctive flight characteristics, utilizing a combination of very small stroke amplitudes and high stroke frequencies. This study focuses on assessing the power requirements for hovering mosquitoes through numerical simulation of wing flow and aerodynamic power, coupled with analytical computation of wing inertial power. Our findings reveal that, despite the elevated stroke frequency, the primary contributor to power expenditure is the aerodynamic power, with wing inertial power being relatively negligible due to the diminutive wing mass. The specific power necessary for hovering is approximately 35 W/kg, comparable to the requirements of various other insects such as bees, flies, and moths (ranging from 20 to –60 W/kg). Moreover, the incorporation of a 100% elastic storage system yields only marginal power savings, approximately 3.5%. Consequently, while an elastic system proves somewhat beneficial, it is not indispensable for mosquito flight. Notably, altering stroke amplitude and frequency for hovering could potentially reduce power demands compared to real-case scenarios, suggesting that the conventional small stroke amplitude and high stroke frequency utilized in mosquito flight may not be the optimal choice in terms of power efficiency. The adoption of these flight characteristics in mosquitoes may be attributed to other factors, such as providing flexibility to increase amplitude in cases of substantial weight gain due to blood-feeding or conferring a selective advantage in acoustic communication through high stroke frequency.