New evidence of mating swarms of the malaria vector, Anopheles arabiensis in Tanzania

: Malaria mosquitoes form mating swarms around sunset, often at the same locations for months or years. Unfortunately, studies of swarms are rare in East Africa, the last recorded field observations in Tanzania having been in 1983. : Mosquito swarms were surveyed by trained volunteers between August...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wellcome open research 2017, Vol.2, p.88
Main Authors: Kaindoa, Emmanuel W, Ngowo, Halfan S, Limwagu, Alex, Mkandawile, Gustav, Kihonda, Japhet, Masalu, John Paliga, Bwanary, Hamis, Diabate, Abdoulaye, Okumu, Fredros O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal reproduction
Community
Funding
Insecticides
Malaria
Mosquitoes
Outdoors
Software
Studies
Supervision
Surveillance
Visualization
Writing
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Summary:: Malaria mosquitoes form mating swarms around sunset, often at the same locations for months or years. Unfortunately, studies of swarms are rare in East Africa, the last recorded field observations in Tanzania having been in 1983. : Mosquito swarms were surveyed by trained volunteers between August-2016 and June-2017 in Ulanga district, Tanzania. Identified swarms were sampled using sweep nets, and collected mosquitoes killed by refrigeration then identified by sex and taxa. Sub-samples were further identified by PCR, and spermatheca of females examined for mating status. Mosquito ages were estimated by observing female ovarian tracheoles and rotation of male genitalia. GPS locations, types of swarm markers, start/end times of swarming, heights above ground, mosquito counts/swarm, and copulation events were recorded. : A total of 216 swarms were identified, characterized and mapped, from which 7,142 s.l and 13 were sampled. The s.l were 99.6% males and 0.4% females, while the were all males. Of all s.l analyzed by PCR, 86.7% were , while 13.3% returned non-amplified DNA. Mean height (±SD) of swarms was 2.74±0.64m, and median duration was 20 (IQR; 15-25) minutes. Confirmed swarm markers included rice fields (25.5%), burned grounds (17.2%), banana trees (13%), brick piles (8.8%), garbage heaps (7.9%) and ant-hills (7.4%). Visual estimates of swarm sizes by the volunteers was strongly correlated to actual sizes by sweep nets (R=0.94; P=
ISSN:2398-502X
2398-502X
DOI:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.12458.1