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11 February 2020 Sugar Feeding Patterns for Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes in South Texas
Mark F. Olson, Selene Garcia-Luna, Jose G. Juarez, Estelle Martin, Laura C. Harrington, Micky D. Eubanks, Ismael E. Badillo-Vargas, Gabriel L. Hamer
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Abstract

Effective mosquito surveillance and management depend on a thorough understanding of the biology and feeding patterns unique to species and sex. Given that a propensity to sugar feed is necessary for some mosquito surveillance and newer control strategies, we sought to document the amount of total sugar in wild Aedes aegypti (L.) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) captured from five different locations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of South Texas over 2 yr. We used Biogents Sentinel 2 (BGS2) traps in year 1 and aspirators, BGS2, and CDC resting traps in years 2 and 3 to collect adult mosquitoes.The hot anthrone test was used to quantify total sugar content in each mosquito. Additionally, the cold and hot anthrone tests were used to distinguish fructose content from total sugars for mosquitoes captured in 2019. Overall, Ae. aegypti females had significantly lower total sugar content than Ae. aegypti males as well as both sexes of Cx. quinquefasciatus. However, the percentage of Ae. aegypti positive for fructose consumption was four to eightfold higher than Ae. aegypti previously reported in other regions. The difference between locations was significant for males of both species, but not for females. Seasonality and trapping method also revealed significant differences in sugar content of captured mosquitoes. Our results reinforce that sugar feeding in female Ae. aegypti is less than Cx. quinquefasciatus, although not absent.This study provides necessary data to evaluate the potential effectiveness of sugar baits in surveillance and control of both Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Mark F. Olson, Selene Garcia-Luna, Jose G. Juarez, Estelle Martin, Laura C. Harrington, Micky D. Eubanks, Ismael E. Badillo-Vargas, and Gabriel L. Hamer "Sugar Feeding Patterns for Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes in South Texas," Journal of Medical Entomology 57(4), 1111-1119, (11 February 2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa005
Received: 5 September 2019; Accepted: 5 January 2020; Published: 11 February 2020
KEYWORDS
Aedes
collection method
Culex
sugar-feeding
surveillance
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