Using Videography to Study the Biomechanics and Behavior of Freely Moving Mosquitoes

Andrew K Dickerson; Florian T Muijres; Remco Pieters

doi:10.1101/pdb.top107676

Using Videography to Study the Biomechanics and Behavior of Freely Moving Mosquitoes

Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2023 Feb 1;2023(2):84-89. doi: 10.1101/pdb.top107676.

Authors

Andrew K Dickerson¹, Florian T Muijres², Remco Pieters²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Tennessee 37996, USA ad@utk.edu.
² Department of Experimental Zoology, Wageningen University, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands.

PMID: 36167673
DOI: 10.1101/pdb.top107676

Abstract

Female mosquitoes of most species require a blood meal for egg development. When biting a human host to collect this blood meal, they can spread dangerous diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, or dengue. Researchers use videography to study many aspects of mosquito behavior, including in-flight host-seeking, takeoff, and landing behaviors, as well as probing and blood feeding, and more. Here, we introduce protocols on how to use videography to capture and analyze mosquito movements at high spatial and temporal resolution, in two and three dimensions.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomechanical Phenomena
Culicidae*
Feeding Behavior
Female
Humans
Malaria*