Parasites of all kinds that induce behavioral changes in their hosts are ubiquitous. However, the behavioral changes caused by parasites are less studied in insects. This study aimed to study the behavioral alternations in the southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus larvae infected with the mermithid nematode, Romanomermis iyengari. The mosquito larvae were divided into four groups, control, nematode-infected, food deprived, and nematode-infected and food- deprived group. The foraging behavior of the mosquito larvae in each group was recorded on day one, two, three, four, five, and six post treatment. These behavioral observations were turned to quantitative measurements and from these data the foraging activity of the four mosquito groups was compared on each day post treatment. Infected Cx. quinquefasciatus larvae exhibited different foraging behavior than their uninfected counter parts. Infected larvae were more active in foraging behavior early in mosquito and mermithid development and this activity decreased later by development of both. Infected larvae behaved similarly to uninfected ones that have been food deprived. Although, both food-deprived group and infected and food-deprived one were subjected to the same food regime, the infection with R. iyengari induced the starved larvae to cannibalize their conspecifics.
Key words: Culex quinquefasciatus, Romanomermis iyengari, Foraging behavior
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