Utilization of Energy Reserves During Survival after Emergence in Florida Mosquitoes1

Abstract

Newly emerged adults of Culex nigripalpus, Wyeomyia medioalbipes and Aedes taeniorhynchus reared as larvae on different amounts of food were analyzed at 12- or 24-hr intervals for depletion of energy reserves (glycogen and triglycerides) during their survival (unfed and at rest). In all cases, glycogen and triglyceride reserves declined exponentially. Triglyceride reserves were utilized primarily for survival, and their rate of depletion varied depending on the amount of triglyceride present immediately after emergence in Cx. nigripalpus and Wy. medioalbipes, whereas there was not much difference in the rate of their depletion in Ae. taeniorhynchus. The mean percentage utilization of triglyceride differed among the 3 species; e.g., for each 24-hr period it varied from 50% to 74% in Cx. nigripalpus, 25% to 36% in Wy. medioalbipes and 32% to 34% in Ae. taeniorhynchus. Ninety percent depletion of triglyceride coincided with 50% survival time in all 3 species investigated. Utilization of triglyceride decreased as the mosquitoes aged. The rate of glycogen utilization at rest was similar to the rate of triglyceride utilization in the 3 species investigated. Utilization of triglyceride reserves in unfed and in sucrose-fed starving females is compared.