Mosquito vision could help in hiding from disease vectors: Study
Washington [US], February 13 : A new research led by scientists at the University of Washington has indicated that a common mosquito species (after detecting a tell-tale gas that we exhale) flies toward specific colours, including red, orange, black and cyan. The mosquitoes ignore other colours, such as green, purple, blue and white.
The researchers believed that these findings helped explain how mosquitoes found hosts, since human skin, regardless of overall pigmentation, emitted a strong red-orange "signal" to their eyes. The results were published in 'Nature Communications'.
"Mosquitoes appear to use odours to help them distinguish what is nearby, like a host to bite," said senior author Jeffrey Riffell, a UW professor of biology. "When they smell specific compounds, like CO2 from our breath, that scent stimulates the eyes to scan for specific colours and other visual patterns, which are associated with a potential host, and head to them."
The results revealed how the mosquito sense of smell -- known as olfaction -- influenced how the mosquito responded to visual cues. Knowing which colours attract hungry mosquitoes, and which ones do not, can help design better repellents, traps and other methods to keep mosquitoes at bay.
"One of the most common questions I'm asked is 'What can I do to stop mosquitoes from biting me?'" said Riffell. "I used to say there are three major cues that attract mosquitoes: your breath, your sweat and the temperature of your skin. In this study, we found a fourth cue: the colours red, which can not only be found on your clothes, but is also found in everyone's skin. The shade of your skin doesn't matter, we are all giving off a strong red signature. Filtering out those attractive colourss in our skin, or wearing clothes that avoid those colourss, could be another way to prevent a mosquito biting."
In their experiments, the team tracked behaviour of female yellow fever mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti, when presented with different types of visual and scent cues. Like all mosquito species, only females drink blood, and bites from A. aegypti can transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. The researchers tracked individual mosquitoes in miniature test chambers, into which they sprayed specific odors and presented different types of visual patterns -- such as a coloured dot or a tasty human hand.
Without any odour stimulus, mosquitoes largely ignored a dot at the bottom of the chamber, regardless of colours.
( Details and picture courtesy ANI, the content is auto-generated from feed.)
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