Retrospective Review of and Introduction to the Analysis of Mosquito Optomotor Responses

Abstract

Adult hematophagous female mosquitoes require nutrients and proteins from vertebrate blood to produce progeny. To find these hosts, mosquitoes rely on olfactory, thermal, and visual cues. Among these sensory modalities, vision has received far less attention than olfaction, in part because of a lack of experimental tools providing sufficient control on the delivery of visual stimuli and the recording of mosquito responses. Although free-flight experiments (e.g., wind tunnel and cage) ensure higher ecological relevance and allow the observation of more natural flight dynamics, tethered flight assays offer a greater level of control on the suite of sensory stimuli experienced by mosquitoes. In addition, these tethered assays provide a stepping stone toward understanding the neural underpinnings of mosquito optomotor behavior. Advances in computer vision tracking systems and programmable light-emitting diode displays have permitted significant discoveries in models such as the fly Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we introduce the use of these methods with mosquitoes.