Observation of mosquito population
Answers
The mosquito Aedes aegypti is one of the most relevant disease vectors in the world due to its capacity to adapt to the urban environment and being able to transmit different pathogens, such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika virus [1–3]. There are new attempts at the control of Ae. aegypti population using Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, Genetically Modified Mosquitoes (GMM) and sterile mosquitoes using ionizing radiation (so-called Sterile Insect Technique–SIT) [4]. They are all technologies under evaluation in different countries, and their primary target is to suppress mosquito population and decrease (and eliminate) arboviruses transmission [4,5] using male releases. The aim is to provide a mating competitivity disadvantage for the wild-type male and increase the number of successfully mated females with the desired released male. Besides operational aspects of those technologies, additional ecological and biological factors need to be clarified and not only to guarantee safeness to the human population but also to understand the behavior of the technology under different circumstances [6–8]. One crucial factor is to determine the mechanisms which females of this species become polyandric, or can mate with several males.
Mosquito mating process (coitus) consists of three phases, the coupling (from recognition to genital contact), copulation (engagement of the genitalia and initiation of semen transfer) and insemination (deposition of spermatozoa and additional secretion into the bursa and later migration to the spermatheca). Ae. aegypti (males and females) after adult emergence, they need 36 to 48 hours to be fully able to mate, during this period the male genitalia turns 180° to make copulation process possible