Tethered Flight Capabilities and Survival of Lambornella clarki-Infected, Blood-Fed, and Gravid Aedes sierrensis (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Flight capabilities and survival of Lambornella clarki Corliss & Coats-infected, control, blood-fed, and gravid Aedes sierrensis (Ludlow) were monitored using a tethered flight mill system and by recording deaths at various times after initiation of these tests. Flight capabilities of infected and control males as measured by total number of flights, total time spent flying, total distance flown, average flight speed, and percentage time flying were similar. Flight capabilities of females with parasites, with fresh blood meals, and with fully developed eggs did not differ significantly. Flight capabilities of 1- to 2-d-old starved infected and starved control females also did not differ significantly. Although flight capabilities did not differ significantly, infected males died earlier than control males. For females, blooded individuals lived longest, followed by controls, and then gravid and infected individuals. These results and results of glycogen analyses of mosquito thoraces indicate that the parasite primarily affected resources needed by the mosquito for survival and not those for flight.