scholarly journals Insect Host Choice: Don’t Put All the Eggs in One Basket

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (22) ◽  
pp. R1363-R1365
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. Khallaf ◽  
Markus Knaden
Keyword(s):  
Host Choice ◽  
Insect Host

scholarly journals Defective phagocyte association during infection of Galleria mellonella with Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is detrimental to both insect host and microbe

Virulence ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 638-653
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Krachler ◽  
Natalie Sirisaengtaksin ◽  
Pauline Monteith ◽  
C. E. Timothy Paine ◽  
Christopher J. Coates ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis ◽  
Galleria Mellonella ◽  
Insect Host

scholarly journals Understanding mosquito host-choice behaviour: a new and low-cost method of identifying the sex of human hosts from mosquito blood meals

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Teltscher ◽  
Sophie Bouvaine ◽  
Gabriella Gibson ◽  
Paul Dyer ◽  
Jennifer Guest ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Meal ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Vector Borne ◽  
Transmission Models ◽  
Blood Meals

Abstract Background Mosquito-borne diseases are a global health problem, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths per year. Pathogens are transmitted by mosquitoes feeding on the blood of an infected host and then feeding on a new host. Monitoring mosquito host-choice behaviour can help in many aspects of vector-borne disease control. Currently, it is possible to determine the host species and an individual human host from the blood meal of a mosquito by using genotyping to match the blood profile of local inhabitants. Epidemiological models generally assume that mosquito biting behaviour is random; however, numerous studies have shown that certain characteristics, e.g. genetic makeup and skin microbiota, make some individuals more attractive to mosquitoes than others. Analysing blood meals and illuminating host-choice behaviour will help re-evaluate and optimise disease transmission models. Methods We describe a new blood meal assay that identifies the sex of the person that a mosquito has bitten. The amelogenin locus (AMEL), a sex marker located on both X and Y chromosomes, was amplified by polymerase chain reaction in DNA extracted from blood-fed Aedes aegypti and Anopheles coluzzii. Results AMEL could be successfully amplified up to 24 h after a blood meal in 100% of An. coluzzii and 96.6% of Ae. aegypti, revealing the sex of humans that were fed on by individual mosquitoes. Conclusions The method described here, developed using mosquitoes fed on volunteers, can be applied to field-caught mosquitoes to determine the host species and the biological sex of human hosts on which they have blood fed. Two important vector species were tested successfully in our laboratory experiments, demonstrating the potential of this technique to improve epidemiological models of vector-borne diseases. This viable and low-cost approach has the capacity to improve our understanding of vector-borne disease transmission, specifically gender differences in exposure and attractiveness to mosquitoes. The data gathered from field studies using our method can be used to shape new transmission models and aid in the implementation of more effective and targeted vector control strategies by enabling a better understanding of the drivers of vector-host interactions.

Host specificity of Argulus coregoni (Crustacea: Branchiura) increases at maturation

Parasitology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
pp. 1767-1774 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. N. MIKHEEV ◽  
A. F. PASTERNAK ◽  
E. T. VALTONEN
Keyword(s):  
Host Specificity ◽  
Host Preference ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Fish Host ◽  
Argulus Foliaceus ◽  
Argulus Coregoni ◽  
Suitable Habitats ◽  
Fish Hosts ◽  
Higher Sensitivity

SUMMARYWe tested the hypothesis that host specificity in ectoparasites does not depend exclusively on the features of the host but also on surrounding habitats, using 2 fish ectoparasites, Argulus coregoni and A. foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura), occurring sympatrically in Finnish lakes. Although these parasites are considered to be of low specificity, we found that the larger of the 2 species, A. coregoni developed a pronounced preference for salmonid hosts at the beginning of maturation (defined by the presence of copulating specimens). Argulus foliaceus infects a much wider range of fish hosts. We showed that specialization of A. coregoni on salmonids does not necessarily result from incompatibility with other fishes, but could instead reflect higher sensitivity of oxygen depletion compared with A. foliaceus. Adult A. coregoni may meet these demands by attaching to salmonids, the typical inhabitants of well-aerated waters. Young parasites of both species showed little host specificity and attached mainly to fishes with higher body reflectivity. In host choice experiments, A. coregoni of 4–5 mm length preferred salmonids (rainbow trout) to cyprinids (roach) irrespective of the type of fish host, on which it had been previously grown in the laboratory. We suggest that such an innate ontogenetic shift in host preference maintains the major part of the parasite population on its principal host, ensuring successful reproduction within suitable habitats.

On the vertical distribution of Phlebotomine sandflies (Dipt., Psychodidae) in British Honduras (Belize)

1970 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Williams
Keyword(s):  
Ground Level ◽  
Insect Host ◽  
Leishmania Mexicana ◽  
Light Traps ◽  
Principal Vector ◽  
New Information ◽  
Phlebotomine Sandflies ◽  
British Honduras ◽  
The Vertical Distribution ◽  
Blood Meals

Phlebotomine sandflies were collected simultaneously at ground level, 25 ft and 40 ft in an area of medium bush in British Honduras (Belize).Flies were captured on human bait, with rat-baited oil-traps and with miniature light-traps, and some resting individuals were collected at each level. One species of Brumptomyia França and 18 of Lutzomyia França & Parrot were obtained. Brief notes on some of these species are given.Miniature light-traps provided the widest range of species, were the most satisfactory means for collecting Brumptomyia, L. steatopyga (Fairchild & Hertig) and L. carpenteri (Fairchild & Hertig), and yielded new information on the flight activities of L. deleoni (Fairchild & Hertig) and L. panamensis (Shannon).Most species collected were found to be predominantly arboreal in habit, L. permira (Fairchild & Hertig) and Lutzomyia sp. P being almost exclusively so. Some species (L. panamensis, possibly L. geniculata (Mangabeira) and L. bispinosa (Fairchild & Hertig)) live amongst the foliage but descend to the forest floor to seek blood-meals. A few species (L. steatopyga, L. deleoni and L. olmeca (Vargas & Díaz Nájera)) are active mainly near the ground, though the occasional specimen may be carried much higher.L. olmeca is the principal vector of rodent leishmaniasis in British Honduras. In the present study, no evidence was obtained to incriminate any other species of Phlebotomine as an insect host for Leishmania mexicana, and the mode of transmission of the parasite to man remains obscure.

Host choice, settling and folding leaf behaviors of the larval rice leaf folder under heat stress

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (6) ◽  
pp. 809-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Bodlah ◽  
A.-X. Zhu ◽  
X.-D. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Cnaphalocrocis Medinalis ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
The Third ◽  
Rice Leaf ◽  
Rice Leaf Folder ◽  
Extreme High Temperature ◽  
Third Instar Larvae

AbstractExtreme high-temperature events are the key factor to determine population dynamics of the rice leaf folder,Cnaphalocrocis medinalis(Guenée), in summer. Although we know that adult of this insect can migrate to avoid heat stress, the behavioral response of larva to high temperature is still unclear. Therefore, impacts of high temperature on behavioral traits ofC. medinalisincluding host choice, settling and folding leaf were observed. The results revealed that these behavioral traits were clearly influenced by high temperature. The larvae preferred maize leaves rather than rice and wheat at normal temperature of 27°C, but larvae experienced a higher temperature of 37 or 40°C for 4 h preferred rice leaves rather than maize and wheat. Capacity of young larvae to find host leaves or settle on the upper surface of leaves significantly reduced when they were treated by high temperature. High temperature of 40°C reduced the leaf-folding capacity of the third instar larvae, but no effects were observed on the fourth and fifth instar larvae. Short-term heat acclimation could not improve the capacity of the third instar larvae to make leaf fold under 40°C.

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