Predator-like auditory stimuli elicit escape climb in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

The yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti possesses an acute sense of hearing that mediates a well-described courtship and mating behavior, but the role that mosquito audition plays in other important behavioral contexts has been comparatively less understood. Like many other animals, Ae. aegypti exhibit escape responses to threatening visual and wind stimuli, the latter of which are sensed via the same antennal mechanosensory organ that mediates hearing. Here, we investigated the possibility that mosquitoes may also use their sense of hearing to detect and respond to the acoustic signature of aerial predators such as dragonflies. In free flight experiments, we characterize a rapid climb maneuver in response to low frequency sounds (180Hz and 300Hz tones) as well as spectrally similar recorded dragonfly audio, distinct from responses observed upon presentation of conspecific wingbeat tones of equivalent acoustic loudness. Presentation of these sounds in tethered flight experiments show wing kinematic modulation comparable to that observed in response to visual loom. Taken together, these findings are congruent with the hypothesis that mosquitoes initiate a rapid climb in response to threatening auditory stimuli from aerial odonate predators. This behavior may be exploited for vector control strategies incorporating audio devices.