Predaceous Toxorhynchites mosquitoes require a living gut microbiota to develop.

ABSTRACT: Most species of mosquitoes are detritivores that feed on decaying plant and animal materials in their aquatic environment. Studies of several detritivorous mosquito species indicate that they host relatively low diversity communities of microbes that are acquired from the environment while feeding. Our recent results also indicate that detritivorous species normally require a living gut microbiota to grow beyond the first instar. Less well known is that some mosquitoes, including those belonging to the genus Toxorhynchites, are predators that feed on other species of mosquitoes and nektonic prey. In this study, we asked whether predaceous Toxorhynchites amboinensis larvae still require living microbes in their gut in order to develop. Using the detritivorous mosquito Aedes

SUBMITTER: Coon KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7015322 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature