Effects of antennal segments defects on blood-sucking behavior in Aedes albopictus

Abstract

After mating, female mosquitoes need a blood meal to promote the reproductive process. The blood-feeding transmits extremely harmful infections including malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and other arboviruses, making mosquitoes one of the most harmful creatures to human health. The selection and localization of the host by mosquitoes mainly depends on the trace chemical cues emitted by the host into the environment, and the sense of smell is the main way to perceive these trace chemical cues. However, the knowledge of the olfactory mechanism is not enough to meet the needs of mosquito control. Unlike previous studies that focused on the olfactory receptor recognition spectrum to reveal the olfactory mechanism of mosquito host localization. In this paper, we proposed that artificial defects in mosquito antennal flagellomeres may affect their blood-feeding behavior, and through rationally designed behavioral experiments, we found that the 6th and 7th flagellomeres on Aedes albopictus antenna are important in the olfactory detection of host searching. Meanwhile, the morphology and distribution of sensilla on each antenna flagellomere were also analyzed and discussed in this paper.