How Day- and Night-Biting Mosquitoes Respond Differently to Colors of Light and Time of Day
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The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine-led team studied mosquito species that bite in the daytime (Aedes aegypti, aka the Yellow Fever mosquito) and those that bite at night (Anopheles coluzzi, a member of the Anopheles gambiae family, the major vector for malaria). They found distinct responses to ultraviolet light and other colors of light between the two species.
[...] We find that day-biting mosquitoes are attracted to a wide range of light spectra during the daytime, whereas night-biting mosquitoes are strongly photophobic to short-wavelength light during the daytime," said principal investigator Todd C. Holmes, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the UCI School of Medicine. "Our results show that timing and light spectra are critical for species-specific light control of harmful mosquitoes."
[...] The new work shows that day-biting mosquitoes, particularly females that require blood meals for their fertilized eggs, are attracted to light during the day regardless of spectra. In contrast, night-biting mosquitoes specifically avoid ultraviolet (UV) and blue light during the day.
[...] "Light is the primary regulator of circadian rhythms and evokes a wide range of time-of-day specific behaviors," said Holmes. "By gaining an understanding of how insects respond to short wavelength light in a species-specific manner, we can develop new, environmentally friendly alternatives to controlling harmful insects more effectively and reduce the need for environmentally damaging toxic pesticides."
Journal Reference:
Lisa S. Baik, Ceazar Nave, David D. Au, et al. Circadian Regulation of Light-Evoked Attraction and Avoidance Behaviors in Daytime- versus Nighttime-Biting Mosquitoes, (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.010)
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