Effects of blood meal source and seasonality on reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Host selection by mosquitoes is a keystone to understanding viral circulation and predicting future infection outbreaks. Culex mosquitoes frequently feed on birds during spring and early summer, shifting into mammals towards late summer and autumn. This host switch may be due to changes in mosquito fitness. The aim of this study was to assess if the interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality may influence reproductive traits of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. For this purpose, Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were reared in simulated summer and autumn conditions and fed on two different hosts, chickens and mice, in a factorial design. Fecundity, fertility, and hatchability during two consecutive gonotrophic cycles were estimated. We found greater fecundity and fertility for mosquitoes fed upon birds than mammals. Fecundity and fertility did not vary between seasons for chicken-fed mosquitoes, whereas in autumn they decreased for mouse-fed mosquitoes. These traits decreased in the second gonotrophic cycle for mouse-fed mosquitoes, whereas they did not vary between cycles for chicken-fed mosquitoes. There was no statistically significant effect of blood meal source, seasonality or their interaction on hatchability, hence this variable was similar among treatments. Overall, these results indicate a statistically significant interaction effect of blood meal source and seasonality on fecundity and fertility. However, the pattern was opposite in relation to our hypothesis, suggesting that further studies are needed to confirm and expand our knowledge about mosquito biology and its relationship with seasonal host use shifting.