9
$\begingroup$

At long-range, female mosquitoes mostly rely on CO2 to find blood host by flying up-wind following the odor plume (ref). They are also known to have excellent auditory organs (ref1, ref2) involved in mating (ref).

Could female mosquitoes detect the sound of their host (call, etc) to locate them, and then bypass their dependence to the wind direction to find the blood host?

$\endgroup$
2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Worth noting a similar question on the biology stack. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 9, 2022 at 19:36
  • $\begingroup$ well spotted! that's mine too :-) $\endgroup$
    – Noil
    Commented Jul 9, 2022 at 20:05

1 Answer 1

5
$\begingroup$

Although females of most species does not behaviourally respond to ecologically-relevant intensity levels of sounds, females of at least a few species are attracted to the playback of frog calls (they blood feed on frogs):

or to traps baited with pure-frequency sounds:

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.