title: A novel video-tracking system to quantify the behaviour of nocturnal mosquitoes attacking human hosts in the field.
abstract: Many vectors of malaria and other infections spend most of their adult life within human homes, the environment where they bloodfeed and rest, and where control has been most successful. Yet, knowledge of peri-domestic mosquito behaviour is limited, particularly how mosquitoes find and attack human hosts or how insecticides impact on behaviour. This is partly because technology for tracking mosquitoes in their natural habitats, traditional dwellings in disease-endemic countries, has never been available. We describe a sensing device that enables observation and recording of nocturnal mosquitoes attacking humans with or without a bed net, in the laboratory and in rural Africa. The device addresses requirements for sub-millimetre resolution over a 2.0 × 1.2 × 2.0 m volume while using minimum irradiance. Data processing strategies to extract individual mosquito trajectories and algorithms to describe behaviour during host/net interactions are introduced. Results from UK laboratory and Tanzanian field tests showed that Culex quinquefasciatus activity was higher and focused on the bed net roof when a human host was present, in colonized and wild populations. Both C. quinquefasciatus and Anopheles gambiae exhibited similar behavioural modes, with average flight velocities varying by less than 10%. The system offers considerable potential for investigations in vector biology and many other fields.
authors.affiliation: Optical Engineering Group, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: N C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1686-2409
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Angarita-Jaimes
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
authors.forename: J E A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5780-6297
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza Medical Research Centre, PO Box 1462, Mwanza, Tanzania.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mashauri
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza Medical Research Centre, PO Box 1462, Mwanza, Tanzania.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martine
authors.affiliation: Optical Engineering Group, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: C E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8296-5540
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Towers
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
authors.forename: P J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0007-3985
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: McCall
authors.affiliation: Optical Engineering Group, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK d.towers@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: D P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2618-1626
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Towers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000502:physiology*; D003465:Culex / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013636:Tanzania; D006113:United Kingdom; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: algorithm; behaviour; imaging; malaria; mosquito; tracking