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Feeding behaviour of female Aedes aegypti: effects of diet temperature, bicarbonate and feeding technique on the response to ATP
Author(s) -
MOSKALYK L. A.,
FRIEND W. G.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1994.tb01046.x
Subject(s) - biology , arthropod mouthparts , aedes aegypti , bicarbonate , meal , zoology , food science , endocrinology , larva , anatomy , ecology
. The effects of variation in diet temperature, mouthpart deployment and the addition of bicarbonate to a saline‐ATP diet were investigated for their effects on amount ingested and diet destination in female Aedes aegypti (L.). Mouthpart deployment was achieved by having the insects feed through a membrane, or from a free‐liquid surface with mouthparts intact, or with the fascicle separated from the labial groove. Under the ‘feeding through membrane’ protocol, a 6‐fold increase in the percentage of Aedes feeding on ATP‐diets was recorded at 37d̀C compared with 21d̀C. Bicarbonate (9.5 or 19 mM) induced a 3‐fold increase in numbers feeding at both 21d̀C and 37d̀C. Neither diet temperature nor bicarbonate content appeared to affect meal size. The pH of all diets was adjusted to 7.0. Diet was directed primarily to the midgut for all diets tested under this regimen, with the exception of the saline‐ATP‐19 mM NaHC0 3 at 37d̀C which caused the diet to be directed primarily to the crop. Under the ‘feeding without membrane through feeding tube’ protocol, females showed little control over diet destination. Female Aedes aegypti exhibited no strong response to ATP when the mouthparts were immersed in 21d̀C diets in feeding tubes and few of these insects ingested large meals. The addition of bicarbonate to the ATP diets did not enhance feeding under these test conditions.