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      Nectar-related vs. human-related volatiles: behavioural response and choice by female and male Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae) between emergence and first feeding.

      Bulletin of Entomological Research
      Animals, Anopheles, metabolism, physiology, Behavior, Animal, Blood, Eating, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food Preferences, Honey, Humans, Male, Sex Characteristics, Smell

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          Abstract

          The close association of Anopheles gambiae Giles with humans and its females' ability to live on human blood alone suggest that females may ignore sources of sugar in favour of human blood as a source of energy. They have limited energy reserves at emergence, and at 27 degrees C both sexes generally die if they do not feed during night 1, 24-36 h after emergence. Food preferences during this critical period were tested by measuring responses to volatiles from honey and soiled socks, which served as surrogates for nectar-related and human-related volatiles in a wind-tunnel olfactometer. Both sexes responded more strongly to honey than to human volatiles, and given a choice, preferred honey over human volatiles. After 5 days of sugar access and maturation, males continued to prefer honey volatiles, whereas females changed behaviour, responding almost exclusively to human volatiles. Night 1 experiments also demonstrated that: (i). females previously having had sugar during the night of emergence responded more strongly to human volatiles; (ii). large-bodied mosquitoes of both sexes responded more strongly to honey than small-bodied ones; and (iii). females were equally responsive to honey in both early and late scotophase but were slightly more responsive to human volatiles in late scotophase. These results indicate that for a female's first meal, sugar is a viable option and is preferred when nectar-related stimuli are strong. This supports field evidence that sugar-feeding is a significant component of A. gambiae female behaviour.

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          Mosquito sugar feeding and reproductive energetics.

          Sugar feeding is a fundamental characteristic of mosquito life. Most evidence indicates frequent ingestion by both sexes and all ages of mosquitoes of plant sugar, usually as floral and extrafloral nectar and honeydew. Energetically, sugar and blood are interchangeable; females of some species have evolved independence from one or the other, but most need blood to develop eggs and sugar to survive, to fly, and to enhance reproduction. Mosquitoes' commitment to sugar is further illustrated by a wealth of behavioral, structural, and physiological specializations for finding, feeding on, and processing it. Blood and sugar feeding activities are antagonistic and mutually exclusive, owing to conflicting demands, yet they support the same goals and often share the same activity period. The rules by which females make food-choice decisions have been inadequately explored, and we still lack convincing evidence that sugar availability in nature varies sufficiently to affect mosquito populations.
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            Floral scents—a checklist of volatile compounds isolated by head-space techniques

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              Metabolic relationship between female body size, reserves, and fecundity of Aedes aegypti

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                15153297
                10.1079/BER2003288

                Chemistry
                Animals,Anopheles,metabolism,physiology,Behavior, Animal,Blood,Eating,Feeding Behavior,Female,Food Preferences,Honey,Humans,Male,Sex Characteristics,Smell

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