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ViewAttendees 16

PBT

Section Symposium

Where Did You Come From, Where Are You Going? Insect Navigation: From Neurons to Behavior

6: Multi-modal foraging cues attract mosquito pollinators (Diptera: Culidae) to flowers

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Presenting Author(s)

Dan Peach

University of Georgia
Aiken, South Carolina

Co-Author(s)

RG

Regine Gries

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
NY

Nathan Young

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
EK

Elton Ko

Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Adam J. Blake

University of Washington
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
HZ

Huimin Zhai

Eurofins Alphora Research Inc.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
GG

Gerhard Gries

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, CAN

Mosquitoes use olfactory, CO₂, visual, and thermal cues to locate vertebrate hosts but also consume plant sugars from (extra-floral) nectaries, and aphid honeydew. Heretofore, sugar-foraging mosquitoes were thought to be guided solely by floral odorants and their role as pollinators was not clear. Working with the common tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, the common hawkweed, Hieracium lachenalii, northern house mosquitoes, Culex pipiens, and yellow fever mosquitoes, Aedes aegpyti, as model species, we tested the hypotheses that mosquitoes provide pollination services and that the entire inflorescence Gestalt of olfactory, CO₂ and visual cues mediate attraction of sugar-foraging mosquitoes rather than floral odorants alone. We demonstrate that (i) Cx. pipiens readily carries pollen and induces significant seed set in T. vulgare; (ii) visual and olfactory tansy inflorescence cues in combination attract more mosquitoes than olfactory cues alone, (iii) UV light-reflecting and absorbing patterns of hawkweed inflorescences affect mosquito foraging decisions; (iv) tansies become net producers of CO₂ after sunset and CO₂ enhances the attractiveness of synthetic floral odorants; (v) some floral odorants/gases are produced by nectar-dwelling microbes; and (vi) the tansy floral blend includes odorants typically emanating from human skin, breath, or skin microbiota. Overlapping olfactory and CO₂ cues between plants and vertebrates shed light on the evolution of haematophagy, supporting the concept that haematophagy of mosquitoes has arisen from phytophagy.