Light Color Attraction and Dietary Sugar Composition for Several Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Species Found in North Central Florida

摘要

The behavioral response of mosquitoes to different wavelengths of light and an evaluation of sugar meals was studied for several species of mosquito found in north central Florida. Gas chromatography (GC) was used to analyze dietary sugars of Anopheles quadrimaculatus, Coquillettidia perturbans Culex nigripalpus, Culiseta melanura and Psorophora ferox. GC was also used to determined whether carbohydrases are present in the mosquito diverticula. A wide range of sugars was found in wild mosquitoes including fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, turanose, melezitose, raffinose, erlose, arabinose, rhamnose, and several unknowns. Laboratory time course studies with Aedes albopictus showed rapid hydrolysis of sucrose within 2 hours of ingestion. Conversely, melezitose remained relatively unchanged after 8 hours. The frequency of wild mosquitoes containing sugars ranged from 10-11% in An. quadrimaculatus and Ps. ferox to 48% in Cq. perturbans. All species tested contained honeydew sugars including An. quadrimaculatus (55%), Cs. melanura (33%), Cx. nigripalpus (15%) Cq. perturbans (10%) and Ps. ferox (7%). Light trap capture numbers for woodland mosquitoes were evaluated using light emitting diodes (LEDs) of different colors. Analysis of data by species showed significant differences in color attraction (green and blue best) for Ae. atlanticus, Ae. dupreei, Ae. infirmatus, An. crucians, Cs. melanura, Cx. nigripalpus, Ps. columbiae and Uranotaenia sapphirina. Attraction was also evaluated using different orientations (light reflected of off lid, or 3600 radius) of green/blue LEDs and found significant capture number differences for only Am crucians, Cs. melanura, Cx. (Melanoconion spp.) and Ur. sapphirina. In the lab, a ten port visualometer was constructed to evaluate the feeding response of 4 mosquito species over various wavelengths of light.