1
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Gupta S, Cribellier A, Poda SB, Roux O, Muijres FT, Riffell JA. Multisensory integration in Anopheles mosquito swarms: The role of visual and acoustic information in mate tracking and collision avoidance. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.18.590128. [PMID: 38712209 PMCID: PMC11071295 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.18.590128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Male mosquitoes form aerial aggregations, known as swarms, to attract females and maximize their chances of finding a mate. Within these swarms, individuals must be able to recognize potential mates and navigate the dynamic social environment to successfully intercept a mating partner. Prior research has almost exclusively focused on the role of acoustic cues in mediating the male mosquito's ability to recognize and pursue flying females. However, the role of other sensory modalities in this behavior has not been explored. Moreover, how males avoid collisions with one another in the dense swarm while pursuing females remains poorly understood. In this study, we combined free-flight and tethered flight simulator experiments to demonstrate that swarming Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes integrate visual and acoustic information to track conspecifics and avoid collisions. Our tethered experiments revealed that acoustic stimuli gated mosquito steering responses to visual objects simulating nearby mosquitoes, especially in males that exhibited attraction to visual objects in the presence of female flight tones. Additionally, we observed that visual cues alone could trigger changes in mosquitoes' wingbeat amplitude and frequency. These findings were corroborated by our free-flight experiments, which revealed that mosquitoes modulate their flight responses to nearby conspecifics in a similar manner to tethered animals, allowing for collision avoidance within swarms. Together, these results demonstrate that both males and females integrate multiple sensory inputs to mediate swarming behavior, and for males, the change in flight kinematics in response to multimodal cues allows them to simultaneously track females while avoiding collisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saumya Gupta
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Antoine Cribellier
- Experimental Zoology Group, Wageningen University, De Elst 1, 6708 WD, Wageningen, Netherlands
| | - Serge B. Poda
- Experimental Zoology Group, Wageningen University, De Elst 1, 6708 WD, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
| | - Olivier Roux
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
- MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Florian T. Muijres
- Experimental Zoology Group, Wageningen University, De Elst 1, 6708 WD, Wageningen, Netherlands
| | - Jeffrey A. Riffell
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
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2
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Pantoja-Sánchez H, Leavell BC, Rendon B, de-Silva WAPP, Singh R, Zhou J, Menda G, Hoy RR, Miles RN, Sanscrainte ND, Bernal XE. Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:jeb245359. [PMID: 37942703 PMCID: PMC10753488 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023]
Abstract
Most mosquito and midge species use hearing during acoustic mating behaviors. For frog-biting species, however, hearing plays an important role beyond mating as females rely on anuran calls to obtain blood meals. Despite the extensive work examining hearing in mosquito species that use sound in mating contexts, our understanding of how mosquitoes hear frog calls is limited. Here, we directly investigated the mechanisms underlying detection of frog calls by a mosquito species specialized on eavesdropping on anuran mating signals: Uranotaenia lowii. Behavioral, biomechanical and neurophysiological analyses revealed that the antenna of this frog-biting species can detect frog calls by relying on neural and mechanical responses comparable to those of non-frog-biting species. Our findings show that in Ur. lowii, contrary to most species, males do not use sound for mating, but females use hearing to locate their anuran host. We also show that the response of the antennae of this frog-biting species resembles that of the antenna of species that use hearing for mating. Finally, we discuss our data considering how mosquitoes may have evolved the ability to tap into the communication system of frogs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian C. Leavell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Bianca Rendon
- Department of Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 41163, USA
| | | | - Richa Singh
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Jian Zhou
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
| | - Gil Menda
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Ronald R. Hoy
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Ronald N. Miles
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
| | - Neil D. Sanscrainte
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, Centre for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA
| | - Ximena E. Bernal
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panamá
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3
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Feugère L, Roux O, Gibson G. Behavioural analysis of swarming mosquitoes reveals higher hearing sensitivity than previously measured with electrophysiology methods. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:274290. [PMID: 35132997 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Mosquitoes of many species mate in station-keeping swarms. Mating chases ensue as soon as a male detects the flight tones of a female with his auditory organs. Previous studies of hearing thresholds have mainly used electrophysiological methods that prevent the mosquito from flying naturally. The main aim of this study was to quantify behaviourally the sound-level threshold at which males can hear females. Free-flying male Anopheles coluzzii were released in a large arena (∼2 m high x 2 m x 1 m) with a conspicuous object on the ground that stimulates swarming behaviour. Males were exposed to a range of natural and synthetic played-back sounds of female flight. We monitored the responses of males and their distance to the speaker by recording changes in their wingbeat frequency and angular speed. We show that the mean male behavioural threshold of particle-velocity hearing lies between 13-20 dB SVL (95%-CI). A conservative estimate of 20 dB SVL (i.e.,<0.5 µm/s particle velocity) is already 12 to 26 dB lower than most of the published electrophysiological measurements from the Johnston's organ. In addition, we suggest that 1) the first harmonic of female flight-sound is sufficient for males to detect her presence, 2) males respond with a greater amplitude to single-female sounds than to the sound of a group of females and 3) the response of males to the playback of the flight sound of a live female is the same as that of a recorded sound of constant frequency and amplitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lionel Feugère
- MIVEGEC, Univ. Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France.,Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Olivier Roux
- MIVEGEC, Univ. Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France.,Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso
| | - Gabriella Gibson
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
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4
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Somers J, Georgiades M, Su MP, Bagi J, Andrés M, Alampounti A, Mills G, Ntabaliba W, Moore SJ, Spaccapelo R, Albert JT. Hitting the right note at the right time: Circadian control of audibility in Anopheles mosquito mating swarms is mediated by flight tones. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabl4844. [PMID: 35020428 PMCID: PMC8754303 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Mating swarms of malaria mosquitoes form every day at sunset throughout the tropical world. They typically last less than 30 minutes. Activity must thus be highly synchronized between the sexes. Moreover, males must identify the few sporadically entering females by detecting the females’ faint flight tones. We show that the Anopheles circadian clock not only ensures a tight synchrony of male and female activity but also helps sharpen the males’ acoustic detection system: By raising their flight tones to 1.5 times the female flight tone, males enhance the audibility of females, specifically at swarm time. Previously reported “harmonic convergence” events are only a random by-product of the mosquitoes’ flight tone variance and not a signature of acoustic interaction between males and females. The flight tones of individual mosquitoes occupy narrow, partly non-overlapping frequency ranges, suggesting that the audibility of individual females varies across males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Somers
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Marcos Georgiades
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Matthew P. Su
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Division of Biological Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
- Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan
| | - Judit Bagi
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Marta Andrés
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Alexandros Alampounti
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Gordon Mills
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
| | - Watson Ntabaliba
- Vector Control Product Testing Unit, Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania
| | - Sarah J. Moore
- Vector Control Product Testing Unit, Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania
- Epidemiology and Public Health Department, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, Basel 4051, Switzerland
| | - Roberta Spaccapelo
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Centro Universitario di Ricerca sulla Genomica Funzionale (C.U.R.Ge.F), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
- Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie (CIB) Trieste, Italy
| | - Joerg T. Albert
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, UK
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK
- Corresponding author.
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5
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Harmonic convergence coordinates swarm mating by enhancing mate detection in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24102. [PMID: 34916521 PMCID: PMC8677761 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03236-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is a major African malaria vector, transmitting parasites responsible for significant mortality and disease burden. Although flight acoustics are essential to mosquito mating and present promising alternatives to insecticide-based vector control strategies, there is limited data on mosquito flight tones during swarming. Here, for the first time, we present detailed analyses of free-flying male and female An. gambiae flight tones and their harmonization (harmonic convergence) over a complete swarm sequence. Audio analysis of single-sex swarms showed synchronized elevation of male and female flight tones during swarming. Analysis of mixed-sex swarms revealed additional 50 Hz increases in male and female flight tones due to mating activity. Furthermore, harmonic differences between male and female swarm tones in mixed-sex swarms and in single-sex male swarms with artificial female swarm audio playback indicate that frequency differences of approximately 50 Hz or less at the male second and female third harmonics (M2:F3) are maintained both before and during mating interactions. This harmonization likely coordinates male scramble competition by maintaining ideal acoustic recognition within mating pairs while acoustically masking phonotactic responses of nearby swarming males to mating females. These findings advance our knowledge of mosquito swarm acoustics and provide vital information for reproductive control strategies.
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6
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Andrés M, Su MP, Albert J, Cator LJ. Buzzkill: targeting the mosquito auditory system. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 40:11-17. [PMID: 32505906 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Sound plays an important role in mosquito sensory ecology. Acoustic perception and acoustically driven behaviours therefore represent potentially effective control targets. Previous scientific efforts around acoustic-based control and surveillance have not been systematic and ambiguity around the exact role of acoustic communication in conspecific interactions remains. Here, we briefly review recent advances in mosquito auditory physiology and behavioural ecology as well as ongoing activities to incorporate sound into control and surveillance tools. We highlight areas where increased collaboration between physiologists, molecular biologists, behavioural ecologists and control experts is needed to capitalize on this progress and realize the potential of sound-based technologies and strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Andrés
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew P Su
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; Division of Biological Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Joerg Albert
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, NW1 1AT, United Kingdom.
| | - Lauren J Cator
- Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and Environment, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
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7
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Pantoja-Sánchez H, Gomez S, Velez V, Avila FW, Alfonso-Parra C. Precopulatory acoustic interactions of the New World malaria vector Anopheles albimanus (Diptera: Culicidae). Parasit Vectors 2019; 12:386. [PMID: 31370863 PMCID: PMC6676525 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-019-3648-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2019] [Accepted: 07/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Anopheles albimanus is a malaria vector in Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean. Although a public health threat, An. albimanus precopulatory mating behaviors are unknown. Acoustics play important roles in mosquito communication, where flight tones allow males to detect and attract potential mates. The importance of sound in precopulatory interactions has been demonstrated in Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus and Anopheles gambiae; convergence in a shared harmonic of the wing beat frequency (WBF) during courtship is thought to increase the chance of copulation. To our knowledge, An. albimanus precopulatory acoustic behaviors have not been described to date. Here, we characterized An. albimanus (i) male and female flight tones; (ii) male–female precopulatory acoustic interactions under tethered and free flight conditions; and (iii) male-male acoustic interactions during free flight. Results We found significant increases in the WBFs of both sexes in free flight compared to when tethered. We observed harmonic convergence between 79% of tethered couples. In free flight, we identified a female-specific behavior that predicts mate rejection during male mating attempts: females increase their WBFs significantly faster during mate rejection compared to a successful copulation. This behavior consistently occurred during mate rejection regardless of prior mating attempts (from the same or differing male). During group flight, males of An. albimanus displayed two distinct flying behaviors: random flight and a swarm-like, patterned flight, each associated with distinct acoustic characteristics. In the transition from random to patterned flight, males converged their WBFs and significantly decreased flight area, male-male proximity and the periodicity of their trajectories. Conclusions We show that tethering of An. albimanus results in major acoustic differences compared to free flight. We identify a female-specific behavior that predicts mate rejection during male mating attempts in this species and show that male groups in free flight display distinct flying patterns with unique audio and visual characteristics. This study shows that An. albimanus display acoustic features identified in other mosquito species, further suggesting that acoustic interactions provide worthwhile targets for mosquito intervention strategies. Our results provide compelling evidence for swarming in this species and suggests that acoustic signaling is important for this behavior. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-019-3648-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hoover Pantoja-Sánchez
- Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica, SISTEMIC, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia.,Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales, PECET, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia
| | - Sebastián Gomez
- Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica, SISTEMIC, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia.,Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, Sabaneta, Antioquia, 055450, Colombia
| | - Viviana Velez
- Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales, PECET, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia
| | - Frank W Avila
- Max Planck Tandem Group in Mosquito Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia.
| | - Catalina Alfonso-Parra
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, Sabaneta, Antioquia, 055450, Colombia. .,Max Planck Tandem Group in Mosquito Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, 050010, Colombia.
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8
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Female resistance and harmonic convergence influence male mating success in Aedes aegypti. Sci Rep 2019; 9:2145. [PMID: 30765779 PMCID: PMC6375921 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38599-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the importance of mosquito mating biology to reproductive control strategies, a mechanistic understanding of individual mating interactions is currently lacking. Using synchronised high-speed video and audio recordings, we quantified behavioural and acoustic features of mating attempts between tethered female and free-flying male Aedes aegypti. In most couplings, males were actively displaced by female kicks in the early phases of the interaction, while flight cessation prior to adoption of the pre-copulatory mating pose also inhibited copulation. Successful males were kicked at a reduced rate and sustained paired contact-flight for longer than those that were rejected. We identified two distinct phases of acoustic interaction. Rapid frequency modulation of flight tones was observed in all interactions up to acceptance of the male. Harmonic convergence (wingbeat frequency matching) was detected more often in successful attempts, coinciding with the transition to stabilised paired flight and subsequent genital contact. Our findings provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between acoustic interactions and mating performance in mosquitoes, offering insights which may be used to target improvements in laboratory reared lines.
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9
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Lapshin DN, Vorontsov DD. Directional and frequency characteristics of auditory neurons in Culex male mosquitoes. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.208785. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.208785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2019] [Accepted: 09/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The paired auditory organ of mosquito, the Johnston's organ (JO), being the receiver of particle velocity component of sound, is directional by its structure. However, to date almost no physiological measurements of its directionality was done. In addition, the recent finding on the grouping of the JO auditory neurons into the antiphase pairs demanded confirmation by different methods. Using the vector superposition of the signals produced by two orthogonally oriented speakers, we measured the directional characteristics of individual units as well as their relations in physiologically distinguishable groups – pairs or triplets. The feedback stimulation method allowed to discriminate responses of the two simultaneously recorded units, and to show that they indeed responded in antiphase. Units of different frequency tuning as well as high-sensitive units (thresholds of 27 dB SPVL and below) were found in every angular sector of the JO, providing the mosquito with the ability to produce complex auditory behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry N. Lapshin
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kharkevich Institute) Bolshoy Karetny per. 19, Moscow, 127994, Russia
| | - Dmitry D. Vorontsov
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology Russian Academy of Sciences Vavilova 26, Moscow, 119334, Russia
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10
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Su MP, Andrés M, Boyd-Gibbins N, Somers J, Albert JT. Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears. Nat Commun 2018; 9:3911. [PMID: 30254270 PMCID: PMC6156513 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06388-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Hearing is essential for the courtship of one of the major carriers of human disease, the mosquito. Males locate females through flight-tone recognition and both sexes engage in mid-air acoustic communications, which can take place within swarms containing thousands of individuals. Despite the importance of hearing for mosquitoes, its mechanisms are still largely unclear. We here report a multilevel analysis of auditory function across three disease-transmitting mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus). All ears tested display transduction-dependent power gain. Quantitative analyses of mechanotransducer function reveal sex-specific and species-specific variations, including male-specific, highly sensitive transducer populations. Systemic blocks of neurotransmission result in large-amplitude oscillations only in male flagellar receivers, indicating sexually dimorphic auditory gain control mechanisms. Our findings identify modifications of auditory function as a key feature in mosquito evolution. We propose that intra-swarm communication has been a driving force behind the observed sex-specific and species-specific diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew P Su
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8EE, UK
- Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX), University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Marta Andrés
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8EE, UK
- The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Nicholas Boyd-Gibbins
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8EE, UK
- Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan
| | - Jason Somers
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8EE, UK
- The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Joerg T Albert
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8EE, UK.
- Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX), University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
- The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK.
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6DE, UK.
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11
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Simões PMV, Ingham R, Gibson G, Russell IJ. Masking of an auditory behaviour reveals how male mosquitoes use distortion to detect females. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:rspb.2017.1862. [PMID: 29367389 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 01/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The mating behaviour of many mosquito species is mediated essentially by sound: males follow and mate with a female mid-flight by detecting and tracking the whine of her flight-tones. The stereotypical rapid frequency modulation (RFM) male behaviour, initiated in response to the detection of the female's flight-tones, has provided a means of investigating these auditory mechanisms while males are free-flying. Mosquitoes hear with their antennae, which vibrate to near-field acoustic excitation. The antennae generate nonlinear vibrations (distortion products, DPs) at frequencies that are equal to the difference between the two simultaneously presented tones, e.g. the male and female flight-tones, which are detected by mechanoreceptors in the auditory Johnston's organ (JO) at the base of the antenna. Recent studies indicated the male mosquito's JO is tuned not to the female flight-tone, but to the frequency difference between the male and female flight-tones. To test the hypothesis that mosquitoes detect this frequency difference, Culex quinquefasciatus males were presented simultaneously with a female flight-tone and a masking tone, which should suppress the male's RFM response to sound. The free-flight behavioural and in vivo electrophysiological experiments revealed that acoustic masking suppresses the RFM response to the female's flight-tones by attenuating the DPs generated in the nonlinear vibration of the antennae. These findings provide direct evidence in support of the hypothesis that male mosquitoes detect females when both are in flight through difference tones generated in the vibrations of their antennae owing to the interaction between their own flight-tones and those of a female.
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Affiliation(s)
- P M V Simões
- School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
| | - R Ingham
- School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
| | - G Gibson
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
| | - I J Russell
- School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
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