Attraction of female Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) to odors from chicken feces

• Published in: Journal of insect physiology Vol. 54; no. 7; pp. 1184 - 1192
• Main Authors: Cooperband, Miriam F., McElfresh, J. Steven, Millar, Jocelyn G., Cardé, Ring T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2008
• Subjects: aldehydes; Animals; antennae; Behavior, Animal; Chickens; Chromatography, Gas; Culex - physiology; Culex quinquefasciatus; Culicidae; Diptera; EAD; electroantennography; electrophysiology; feces; Feces - chemistry; Female; females; host seeking; host volatiles; Host-associated volatiles; Humans; insect attractants; Mass Spectrometry; Mosquito olfaction; Odorants - analysis; odors; olfactometry; Semiochemicals; volatile compounds; Volatilization; EAD; Host-associated volatiles; Mosquito olfaction; Semiochemicals
• ISSN: 0022-1910; 1879-1611
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2008.05.003

Odors from fresh chicken feces in water elicited upwind flight of host-seeking female Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in a dual-choice olfactometer. Acidification of the slurry of chicken feces and water resulted in increased attraction, whereas alkaline slurries of chicken feces and water controls did not attract female mosquitoes. This is the first reported example of avian fecal odor eliciting upwind flight of female mosquitoes. Headspace odors from acidified slurries were sampled using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coated fibers. Eight volatile aldehydes [( E)-2-decenal, undecanal, dodecanal, tetradecanal, pentadecanal, hexadecanal, heptadecanal, and octadecanal] identified in the headspace of acidified chicken feces elicited electroantennogram responses from antennae of C. quinquefasciatus females. An improved electroantennogram technique in which four antennae were used in parallel for monitoring the GC effluent is described.