Abstract
Given the unsurpassed sound sensitivity of mosquitoes among arthropods and the sound-source power required for long-range hearing, we investigated the distance over which female mosquitoes might identify species-specific cues in the sound of mating swarms. We exposed free-flying Anopheles coluzzii females to pre-recorded sounds of male An. coluzzii and closely related An. gambiae s.s. swarms over a range of natural sound-levels, based on a reference recording. Sound-levels tested were related to equivalent distances between the female and the swarm for a given number of males, enabling us to infer distances over which females can hear large male swarms. We show that even for the loudest swarms, a female hears an individual male at the edge of the swarm sooner than she would hear the swarm as a whole, due to the exponential increase in sound level at close-range. We conclude that inter-mosquito acoustic communication is restricted to close-range pair interactions.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
- Shorter Methods section. - Moved some sections from the methods to a supplementary file - Moved the first result section to a supplementary file - Moved the last discussion section to a supplementary file