Acoustic communication in insect disease vectors

Vigoder, Felipe M.; Ritchie, Michael G.; Gibson, Gabriella; Peixoto, Alexandre A.

doi:10.1590/0074-0276130390

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Our findings recommend strategies that target hearing and acoustic communication, which are essential components of courtship behaviour in all major mosquito disease vectors, as promising novel routes for vector control 3 , 65 . Targeting this shared sensory ecological bottleneck (whether through novel insecticides, acoustic traps or other innovative methods) could help to overcome limitations of current insecticidal approaches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Andrés

Boyd-Gibbins

et al. 2018

Nat Commun

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Hearing is essential for the courtship of one of the major carriers of human disease, the mosquito. Males locate females through flight-tone recognition and both sexes engage in mid-air acoustic communications, which can take place within swarms containing thousands of individuals. Despite the importance of hearing for mosquitoes, its mechanisms are still largely unclear. We here report a multilevel analysis of auditory function across three disease-transmitting mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus). All ears tested display transduction-dependent power gain. Quantitative analyses of mechanotransducer function reveal sex-specific and species-specific variations, including male-specific, highly sensitive transducer populations. Systemic blocks of neurotransmission result in large-amplitude oscillations only in male flagellar receivers, indicating sexually dimorphic auditory gain control mechanisms. Our findings identify modifications of auditory function as a key feature in mosquito evolution. We propose that intra-swarm communication has been a driving force behind the observed sex-specific and species-specific diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Andrés

Boyd-Gibbins

et al. 2018

Nat Commun

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“…[ 31 , 33 , 36 , 37 ]). Moreover, while it has been stated that ‘there is little doubt that “frequency convergence” occurs’ [ 38 ], it has not yet been quantitatively demonstrated that it is indeed an active behaviour, and not simply a random, passive, occurrence that results by chance, because insects occupy a common band of frequency space. For example, the male A. aegypti has a fundamental wing beat frequency approximately 50% higher than that of the female.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative analysis of harmonic convergence in mosquito auditory interactions

Aldersley

Champneys

Homer

et al. 2016

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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This article analyses the hearing and behaviour of mosquitoes in the context of inter-individual acoustic interactions. The acoustic interactions of tethered live pairs of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, from same and opposite sex mosquitoes of the species, are recorded on independent and unique audio channels, together with the response of tethered individual mosquitoes to playbacks of pre-recorded flight tones of lone or paired individuals. A time-dependent representation of each mosquito's non-stationary wing beat frequency signature is constructed, based on Hilbert spectral analysis. A range of algorithmic tools is developed to automatically analyse these data, and used to perform a robust quantitative identification of the ‘harmonic convergence’ phenomenon. The results suggest that harmonic convergence is an active phenomenon, which does not occur by chance. It occurs for live pairs, as well as for lone individuals responding to playback recordings, whether from the same or opposite sex. Male–female behaviour is dominated by frequency convergence at a wider range of harmonic combinations than previously reported, and requires participation from both partners in the duet. New evidence is found to show that male–male interactions are more varied than strict frequency avoidance. Rather, they can be divided into two groups: convergent pairs, typified by tightly bound wing beat frequencies, and divergent pairs, that remain widely spaced in the frequency domain. Overall, the results reveal that mosquito acoustic interaction is a delicate and intricate time-dependent active process that involves both individuals, takes place at many different frequencies, and which merits further enquiry.

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“…Many authors consider sexual selection to be one of the main causes of speciation, creating reproductive barriers that can prevent gene flow [ 1 , 2 ]. Acoustic communication has been implicated in sexual selection and can act as a recognition signal in many animals, from insects to primates, with sibling species showing distinct songs [ 3 – 8 ]. Hence song variation could represent an important phenotype for understanding patterns of speciation in species complexes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic differentiation in love song traits among sibling species of the Lutzomyia longipalpis complex in Brazil

et al. 2015

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BackgroundBrazilian populations of Lutzomyia longipalpis may constitute a complex of cryptic species, and this report investigates the distribution and number of potential sibling species. One of the main differences observed among Brazilian populations is the type of acoustic signal produced by males during copulation. These copulation song differences seem to be evolving faster than neutral molecular markers and have been suggested to contribute to insemination failure observed in crosses between these sibling species. In previous studies, two main types of copulation songs were found, burst-type and pulse-type. The latter type can, in turn, be further subdivided into five different patterns.MethodsWe recorded male song from 13 new populations of the L. longipalpis complex from Brazil and compared the songs with 12 already available.ResultsOut of these 25 populations, 16 produce burst-type and 9 produce pulse-type songs. We performed a principal component analysis in these two main groups separately and an additional discriminant analysis in the pulse-type group. The pulse-type populations showed a clear separation between the five known patterns with a high correspondence of individuals to their correct group, confirming the differentiation between them. The distinctiveness of the burst-type subgroups was much lower than that observed among the pulse-type groups and no clear population structure was observed. This suggests that the burst-type populations represent a single species.ConclusionOverall, our results are consistent with the existence in Brazil of at least six species of the L. longipalpis complex, one with a wide distribution comprising all the populations with burst-type songs, and five more closely related allopatric siblings with different pulse-type song patterns and more restricted distribution ranges.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-015-0900-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Acoustic communication in insect disease vectors

Cited by 20 publications

References 76 publications

Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Quantitative analysis of harmonic convergence in mosquito auditory interactions

Phenotypic differentiation in love song traits among sibling species of the Lutzomyia longipalpis complex in Brazil

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