Proboscis amputation facilitates the study of mosquito (Diptera : Culicidae) attractants, repellents, and host preference

Proboscis amputation has facilitated the study of mosquito behavior. Using humans as a host is very important in the study of mosquito attractants, re pellents, and host preference. However, mosquito bites cause potential medi cal problems because of hypersensitivity and perhaps secondary bacterial in fection, even using laboratory mosquitoes, Moreover, once a normal female m osquito bites and feeds on human blood, it cannot be used in subsequent pro bing tests. These problems were resolved by proboscis amputation. Variation of attraction among humans was examined effectively without bites using pr oboscis-amputated Aedes albopictus Skuse. Proboscis-amputated and normal mo squitoes also showed equal repellency against 1% L-lactic acid. Although th e mosquitoes lacked the tip of the labium and some sensilla they alighted o n human forearms in the same way as normal mosquitoes. Because proboscis-am putated mosquitoes continued to probe avidly, they could be used repeatedly , thereby reducing the number of mosquitoes required for experimentation. T he use of proboscis-amputated mosquitoes would promote various studies of m osquito attraction or repellency with no risk of hypersensitivity and secon dary bacterial infection by mosquito bites.