Last Updated: 05/04/2024
How Anopheles Females seek males? (ANOFEEL)
Objectives
The objective of this proposal is to identify stimuli used by virgin females of the An. gambiae complex to detect, recognize and locate species-specific male swarms at long range.
The results of this project will help improve vector population suppression/replacement strategies and may prompt the development of new bio-inspired traps for vector surveillance and control.
Once stimuli are identified, it can serve to design bio-inspired traps to control for both female and male mosquitoes (swarms = aggregation behavior).
Research Institute for Development (IRD), Benin, Benin
Research Institute of Health Sciences (IRSS), Burkina Faso
Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, United Kingdom
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Centre (CEFE), France
Infectious Diseases and Vectors: Ecology, Genetics, Evolution and Control (MiVEGEC), Research Institute for Development (IRD), France
Current efforts to prevent and control life-threatening mosquito-borne diseases require new and innovative vector control tools. Basic knowledge of insects mating behaviour and a clear understanding of the mechanisms of mate preference was incidental to the development of efficient agricultural pest control. Such knowledge is currently lacking in most arthropod vector species, and this project proposes to tackle this issue by investigating female mating behaviour in the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.
It is known that males form swarms in which females come to find a mate but the way females are attracted to swarms is unknown. Through a multidisciplinary approach, stimuli used by females to track and recognize male swarms at long range will be identified. Chemical, visual and acoustic signalling will be investigated.
Results will help improve vector population suppression/replacement strategies and may prompt the development of new bio-inspired traps for vector surveillance and control.
Nov 2015 — Sep 2020
$407,048
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