Oviposition Behavior in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Response to thePresence of Heterospecific and Conspecific Larvae

Abstract

In mosquitoes, location of suitable sites foroviposition requires a set of visual, tactile, and olfactory cues that influencesfemales before laying their eggs. The ability of gravid females to distinguishamong potential oviposition sites that will or will not support the growth,development, and survival of their progeny is critical. Aedes aegypti (L.) andAedes albopictus (Skuse) share ecological niches, being highly competitive inlarval stage. We studied the oviposition behavior of both species in thepresence of larvae of one or the other species (heterospecific or conspecificlarvae). The number of eggs laid by gravid females on oviposition sites (water withdifferent or the same species of Aedes larvae) were compared. The presence anddensity of heterospecific or conspecific larvae had a positive or negative effecton the ovipositional responses, measured as an oviposition activity index. Forboth species, the oviposition was not affected by heterospecific larvae withdensities between 10 and 100 larvae in water, but a strong attractant behaviorwas observed for a density of 500 larvae in water. For Ae. albopictus in thepresence of larvae of the same species (conspecific oviposition), we observed anattractant effect for larvae density of 10 but not for 100 or 500 larvae inwater. Instead, for Ae. aegypti, we observed attraction only for 100 larvae,not for 10 or 500 larvae. Results presented here provide an additional insight aboutoviposition behavior responses of gravid females in the presence of conspecificand heterospecific larvae in breeding sites.