title: Decreased Flight Activity in Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) Naturally Infected With Culex flavivirus.
abstract: Insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFVs) commonly infect vectors of mosquito-borne arboviruses. To investigate whether infection with an ISFV might affect mosquito flight behavior, we quantified flight behavior in Culex pipiens L. naturally infected with Culex flavivirus (CxFV). We observed a significant reduction in the scotophase (dark hours) flight activity of CxFV-positive mosquitoes relative to CxFV-negative mosquitoes, but only a marginal reduction in photophase (light hours) flight activity, and no change in the circadian pattern of flight activity. These results suggest that CxFV infection alters the flight activity of naturally infected Cx. pipiens most dramatically when these vectors are likely to be host seeking and may therefore affect the transmission of medically important arboviruses.
authors.affiliation: Department Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706 (ccondon2@wisc.edu; tgoldberg@vetmed.wisc.edu).
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS, 1920 Dayton Ave., Ames, IA 50010 (tavis.anderson@ars.usda.gov), and.
authors.forename: Tavis K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706 (ccondon2@wisc.edu; tgoldberg@vetmed.wisc.edu), tgoldberg@vetmed.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Tony L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001102:Arbovirus Infections / Q000635:transmission; D003465:Culex / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D005416:Flavivirus / Q000502:physiology*; D005426:Flight, Animal; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007304:Insect Viruses / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Culex flavivirus; Culex pipiens; flight activity; insect-specific flavivirus; mosquito behavior