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Mosquito swarms may sound like chaos, but male mosquitoes are incredible listeners. Despite the noise, they can hear the faint sounds made by female wingbeats.
A new study from Nagoya University uncovers how male mosquitoes hear across a wider range of frequencies than females, helping them locate mates in buzzing clouds while evading human defenses. These insights offer a fresh path toward smarter mosquito control.
Mosquitoes use complex acoustic cues
Scientists have long used sound traps to catch male mosquitoes. These traps mimic female wingbeat sounds to lure in males and then sterilize them. But in real-world settings, most of these traps underperform.
Sound traps often catch only a few insects each day because they don’t match the complex acoustic cues that male mosquitoes truly seek.
The recent study has revealed that males don’t just listen for one frequency. Their hearing is tuned to a wide and nuanced range of sounds.
These sounds include not only female wingbeats but also blended frequencies that are made when male and female wingbeats mix. The research could explain why simple traps fail to hold their attention.
How male mosquitoes process sound
The researchers used calcium imaging to study brain activity in male and female mosquitoes. They examined responses in the AMMC (antennal mechanosensory and motor center), a key hearing region in the mosquito brain.
“We found that male brains showed responses not only to the same frequencies of sound as female brains, but also to much higher frequencies,” noted Professor Matthew Su.
“This finding shows the complex information processing required for males to identify the location of females.”
In males, the AMMC showed activity across 150 to 500 Hz. Females mostly responded between 100 to 200 Hz.
Males also showed four unique patterns of sound responses, whereas females showed two unique patterns and one shared with males. These clusters suggest that males process sound in more diverse ways than females.
Female mosquito sounds and human traps
Strikingly, some male neurons showed negative responses. They reduced activity at 150 Hz. This pattern may help males tune out distractions or adjust sensitivity to specific tones.
Another brain cluster responded to low-frequency sounds in both sexes. Researchers suggest this may help mosquitoes detect predators, like dragonflies.
So, even as males evolved fine-tuned mating tools, both sexes may still use sound to stay safe.
To understand why male hearing is so sharp, the team examined the base of the antennae.
They found males express more genes linked to cilia, which are tiny hairs that detect vibration. These include dynein genes that are already known to affect hearing in other insects.
“Cilia are thought to function to increase receptive sensitivity to certain sounds,” explained Professor Azusa Kamikouchi. “This sound processing mechanism may be a specialized and sophisticated mechanism that is not found in other insects.”
A gene called fd3f, which is known to guide cilia development, was also more active in males. This suggests males are genetically wired for better hearing.
Proteins from these genes were also found in greater amounts in males, strengthening the evidence.
Designing better sound traps
“Male mosquitoes rely on the sound of female wings to find mates. Therefore, mosquito hearing is a promising target for preventing the reproduction of mosquitoes,” noted Professor Kamikouchi.
With this deep understanding of how male mosquitoes hear, scientists could redesign traps that mimic the real complexity of female wingbeats.
How Male Mosquitoes Target Females—and Avoid Traps. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Issey Takahashi
By copying not just one sound but many, perhaps even distortion products, these tools could catch more males and limit mosquito breeding more effectively.
Surprisingly complex auditory system
This study significantly broadens and deepens how we think about insect hearing. It goes beyond simply identifying differences between male and female mosquitoes.
The research uncovers a highly specialized and surprisingly complex auditory system in males – one that appears to have evolved specifically to improve the chances of finding a mate in noisy environments.
Rather than relying on a single mating cue, male mosquitoes interpret a rich variety of sound frequencies, including blended signals that form when male and female wingbeats overlap.
This suggests their hearing has been shaped by strong evolutionary pressure to succeed in mating within dense and chaotic swarms.
The study also revealed that certain parts of the mosquito’s hearing response are shared between males and females. These shared responses likely evolved long ago, before mating behavior became so specialized.
For example, both sexes respond to low-frequency sounds that mimic the wingbeats of dragonflies, one of their natural predators.
This implies that parts of the mosquito’s hearing system originally developed as a survival tool to allow them to detect and escape from danger.
Mosquitoes, sound, and human frustration
While male mosquitoes have acquired new, advanced hearing abilities for mating, they still retain these older sensory features that help them stay alive.
The researchers believe that by fully understanding this dual function – mating and predator detection – we might find new ways to disrupt the mosquito life cycle.
If we can mimic or interfere with the sounds that mosquitoes depend on, we could reduce their ability to reproduce or survive.
In doing so, we might finally quiet the constant buzz of mosquito swarms in places where they pose the greatest threat to human health.
The study is published in the journal Science Advances.
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