Distinct navigation behaviors in Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquito larvae

Abstract

Mosquitoes spread deadly diseases that impact millions of people every year. Understanding mosquito physiology and behavior is vital for public health and disease prevention. However, many important questions remain unanswered in the field of mosquito neuroethology, particularly in our understanding of the larval stage. In this study, we investigate the innate exploration behavior of six different species of disease vector mosquito larvae. We show that these species exhibit strikingly different movement paths, corresponding to a wide range of exploration behaviors. We also investigate the response of each species to an appetitive food cue, aversive cue or neutral control. By contrast to the large differences in exploration behavior, all species appeared to gather near preferred cues through random aggregation rather than directed navigation and exhibited slower speeds once encountering food patches. Our results identify key behavioral differences among important disease vector species, and suggests that navigation and exploration among even closely related mosquito species may be much more distinct than previously thought.