Sexual selection in mosquito swarms: may the best man lose?

Ng’habi, Kija; Huho, Bernadette; Nkwengulila, Gamba; Killeen, Gerry F.; Knols, Bart G. J.; Ferguson, Heather M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.01.014

Cited by 49 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…That said, human malaria parasites do require mosquito resources for development [74][75][76][77] so there is no reason to think that host condition is unimportant. Several previous studies have demonstrated effects of larval density on adult traits including body size [15,55,56], survival [52], blood intake, and mating competitiveness [78,79] suggesting our results to be robust. Comparative differences might be enhanced or diminished in the face of the complexity that exists in the field.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria depends on larval environment

Moller-Jacobs

Murdock

Thomas

2014

Parasites & Vectors

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Background: Adult traits of holometabolous insects such as reproduction and survival can be shaped by conditions experienced during larval development. These "carry-over" effects influence not only individual life history and fitness, but can also impact interactions between insect hosts and parasites. Despite this, the implications of larval conditions for the transmission of human, wildlife and plant diseases that are vectored by insects remain poorly understood. Methods: We used Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes and the rodent malaria, Plasmodium yoelii yoelii, to investigate whether quality of larval habitat influenced vectorial capacity of adult mosquitoes. Larvae were reared under two dietary conditions; one group received a diet commonly used for colony maintenance (0.3 mg/individual/day of Tetrafin fish food) while the other group received a reduced food diet (0.1 mg/individual/day). Upon emergence, adults were provided an infectious blood feed. We assessed the effects of diet on a range of larval and adult traits including larval development times and survival, number of emerging adults, adult body size and survival, gonotrophic cycle length, and mating success. We also estimated the effects of larval diet on parasite infection rates and growth kinetics within the adult mosquitoes. Results: Larval dietary regime affected larval survival and development, as well as size, reproductive success and survival of adult mosquitoes. Larval diet also affected the intensity of initial Plasmodium infection (oocyst stage) and parasite replication, but without differences in overall infection prevalence at either the oocyst or sporozoite stage. Conclusions: Together, the combined effects led to a relative reduction in vectorial capacity (a measure of the transmission potential of a mosquito population) in the low food treatment of 70%. This study highlights the need to consider environmental variation at the larval stages to better understand transmission dynamics and control of vectorborne diseases.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria depends on larval environment

Moller-Jacobs

Murdock

Thomas

2014

Parasites & Vectors

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“…In contrast, Charlwood et al (2002) could not find any difference in body size between mated and non‐mated An. gambiae , while Ng'habi et al (2008) showed that intermediate‐sized males of the same species were mated more often than the others. Pecharsky et al (2002) showed that intermediate male size of the mayfly Baetis bicaudatus may be optimal during mating because of their flight agility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in energy reserves and role of body size in the mating system ofAnopheles gambiae

Maïga

Dabiré

Lehmann

et al. 2012

Journal of Vector Ecology

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: Anopheles gambiae mates in flight. Males gather at stationary places at sunset and compete for incoming females. Factors that account for male mating success are not known but are critical for the future of any genetic control strategy. The current study explored variations in nutritional reserves (sugars, glycogen, lipids, and proteins) in wild-caught swarming and resting males and evaluated the effect of body size and wing symmetry on male mating success. Our results showed that glycogen and sugar reserves are mobilized for flight. Males consume proportionally 5.9-fold as much energy derived from sugars in swarming activities than when they are at rest. Mated males were on average bigger than unmated ones (P<0.0001). A strong correlation between the left and right wings in both mated and unmated males was found and additional analysis on fluctuating asymmetry did not show any indication of mated males being more symmetrical than unmated ones. The distribution of wing size of mated males was focused around a central value, suggesting that intermediate size of males is advantageous in the An. gambiae mating system. The results are discussed in the context of sexual selection. Journal of Vector Ecology 37 (2): 289-297. 2012.

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“…Larger males have been demonstrated to have greater capacity to produce and transfer sperm to females [33, 34]. However, in mating competition experiments both large [14, 35–37] and intermediate [38] sized males have been found to be more successful. One published study reported no relationship between body size and male mating success [39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size, sounds and sex: interactions between body size and harmonic convergence signals determine mating success in Aedes aegypti

Cator¹,

Zanti²

2016

Parasites Vectors

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BackgroundSeveral new mosquito control strategies will involve the release of laboratory reared males which will be required to compete with wild males for mates. Currently, the determinants of male mating success remain unclear. The presence of convergence between male and female harmonic flight tone frequencies during a mating attempt have been found to increase male mating success in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Size has also been implicated as a factor in male mating success. Here, we investigated the relationships among body size, harmonic convergence signalling, and mating success. We predicted that harmonic convergence would be an important determinant of mating success and that large individuals would be more likely to converge.MethodsWe used diet to manipulate male and female body size and then measured acoustic interactions during mating attempts between pairs of different body sizes. Additionally, we used playback experiments to measure the direct effect of size on signalling performance.ResultsIn live pair interactions, harmonic convergence was found to be a significant predictor of copula formation. However, we also found interactions between harmonic convergence behaviour and body size. The probability that a given male successfully formed a copula was a consequence of his size, the size of the female encountered, and whether or not they converged. While convergence appears to be predictive of mating success regardless of size, the positive effect of convergence was modulated by size combinations. In playbacks, adult body size did not affect the probability of harmonic convergence responses.ConclusionsBoth body size and harmonic convergence signalling were found to be determinants of male mating success. Our results suggest that in addition to measuring convergence ability of mass release lines that the size distribution of released males may need to be adjusted to complement the size distribution of females. We also found that diet amount alone cannot be used to increase male mating success or convergence probability. A clearer understanding of convergence behaviours, their relationship to mating success, and factors influencing convergence ability would provide the groundwork for improving the mating performance of laboratory reared lines.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1914-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Sexual selection in mosquito swarms: may the best man lose?

Cited by 49 publications

References 47 publications

Capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria depends on larval environment

Capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria depends on larval environment

Variation in energy reserves and role of body size in the mating system ofAnopheles gambiae

Size, sounds and sex: interactions between body size and harmonic convergence signals determine mating success in Aedes aegypti

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