The Influence of Host Defensive Behavior on Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Biting Persistence1

Abstract

Aedes triseriatus mosquitoes were less persistent in attempting to feed on a human hand when the host was so defensive that mosquitoes could land only briefly and could not feed. Attack duration (amount of time mosquitoes attempted to feed, a measure of biting persistence) was longest in the mosquitoes' 1st attack on the hand, and progressively shorter thereafter. Sucrose-starved mosquitoes were significantly less persistent than were sucrose-fed mosquitoes. Mosquito age did not affect biting persistence. We suggest that when mosquitoes cease attacking a defensive host, they break contact with that host, possibly leading to multiple feeding within a single gonotrophic cycle.