Aedes triseriatus females transovarially infected with La Crosse virus mate more efficiently than uninfected mosquitoes.
The mating efficiencies (the percentage of females inseminated by males) of field-collected and laboratory-colonized Aedes triseriatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae) female mosquitoes transovarially infected or uninfected with La Crosse virus (LACV) were compared. The females were placed in cages with age-matched males, and the insemination rates (number of inseminated females of the total number of females examined) were determined daily by detection of sperm in the spermathecae. LACV-infected mosquitoes typically mated earlier than uninfected mosquitoes, i.e., insemination occurred earlier after the mixing of males and females. LACV load was not correlated with increased insemination.
Reese
Sara M
SM
Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1692, USA.
Beaty
Meaghan K
MK
Gabitzsch
Elizabeth S
ES
Blair
Carol D
CD
Beaty
Barry J
BJ
D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D018062:La Crosse virus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal