An Analysis of Diet Quality, How It Controls Fatty Acid Profiles, Isotope Signatures and Stoichiometry in the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles arabiensis

Abstract

Direct routing of FAs was evident but there was ubiquitous de-novo synthesis suggesting mosquito larvae are competent generalist feeders capable of survival on diet with varying characteristics. It was concluded that nitrogen availability in the larval diet controlled teneral mosquito size and that teneral CN ratio is a sex- and species-specific fixed parameter. This finding has significant implications for overall mosquito competitiveness and environmental management.