PMID: 11345420May 10, 2001Paper

The energetic costs of diving in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus pupae

Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association
E A Lucas, W S Romoser

Abstract

Undisturbed mosquito pupae rest at the water surface and respond to passing shadows or vibrations by diving. Pupae do not feed and rely solely on energy stored from the larval stage. The ability of a newly emerged adult mosquito to survive, and therefore to transmit disease, depends on these energy reserves. Earlier studies of diving behavior in Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, and Ae. triseriatus pupae provided evidence that pupae sense their state of buoyancy and modify their diving behavior accordingly. With strong stimulation pupae tend to dive to a depth where they become neutrally or negatively buoyant and commonly rest on the bottom. This behavior, as well as the tendency to rest when not disturbed, may logically be viewed as energy-conserving. The results of these studies also generated the hypothesis that the diving behavior displayed by these container-breeding mosquitoes helps them avoid being washed from their container by overflowing water during rainfall. Rainfall stimulates diving and logically, prolonged, heavy rainfall stimulates excessive diving, a likely drain on energy reserves. Our objectives were to determine, in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, the energetic costs associated with resting behavior, with frequ...Continue Reading

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