Mosquito swarms are poorly understood mating aggregations. In the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae Giles, they are known to depend on environmental conditions, such as the presence of a marker on the ground, and they may be highly relevant to reproductive isolation. We present quantitative measurements of in dividual An. gambiae positions within swarms from Donéguébougou, Mali, estimated by stereoscopic video image analysis. Results indicate that swarms in this species are approximately spherical, with an unexpectedly high density of individuals close to the swarm centroid. This high density may be the result of individual males maximizing their probability of encountering afemale or aproduct of mosquito orientation through cues within the swarm. Our analysis also suggests a difference in swarm organization between putative incipient species of An. gambiae with increasing numbers of males. This may be related to a difference in marker use between these groups, supporting the hypothesis that swarming behavior is a mechanism of mate recognition and ultimately reproductive isolation.
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1 March 2009
Structure and Dynamics of Male Swarms of Anopheles gambiae
Nicholas C. Manoukis,
Abdoulaye Diabate,
Adamou Abdoulaye,
Moussa Diallo,
Adama Dao,
Alpha S. Yaro,
José M.C. Ribeiro,
Tovi Lehmann
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Journal of Medical Entomology
Vol. 46 • No. 2
March 2009
Vol. 46 • No. 2
March 2009
Anopheles gambiae
mate recognition
stereoscopic image analysis
swarm
three-dimensional localization