New artificial hematophagy system with attractive polymeric biofilm for maintenance of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the laboratory

TL;DR

A new artificial blood-feeding system using a polymeric biofilm improves mosquito feeding and reproduction in the lab.

Contribution

A novel polymeric biofilm with l-lactic acid significantly enhances mosquito feeding and reproduction compared to traditional methods.

Findings

87% of mosquitoes fed successfully through the new biofilm, compared to only 20% with Parafilm-M®.

The biofilm system resulted in high egg-laying rates (90%) and strong larval and adult emergence rates.

97% of larvae hatched, and 95% reached the pupal stage with the new system.

Abstract

Maintaining mosquito colonies in the laboratory requires a blood supply so that females' oocytes can mature and oviposition can take place. In this study, a new artificial hematophagy system for colonization and maintenance of Culex quinquefasciatus in the laboratory was developed and tested.

We developed an attractive polymeric biofilm including 25% l-lactic acid for use as a membrane in an artificial hematophagy system and compared the feeding rate of females with Parafilm-M®. We also evaluated the oviposition rate, larval survival and adult emergence of females fed through the attractive biofilm.

The average percentage of female Cx. quinquefasciatus fed through the attractive biofilm was 87%, while only 20% became engorged with Parafilm-M® (p < 0.0001). Feeding through the attractive biofilm developed in this study produced high levels of evaluated biological parameters; the percentage of egg laying by females that underwent artificial hematophagy through the biofilm was 90%, with an average of 158 eggs per raft. From these eggs, 97% of the larvae hatched, of which 95% reached the pupal stage. The adult emergence rate corresponded to 93% of pupae.

Insects fed with attractant through the biofilm system had a higher engorgement rate compared to those fed through Parafilm-M®. Our study is preliminary and suggests that polymeric biofilm has great potential for artificially feeding mosquitoes in the laboratory. Based on this research, new studies will be carried out with biofilm and different systems.

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