Responsiveness of Female Aedes Aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) to Flower Extracts

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Abstract
Extracts of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) were prepared with 5 solvents having a range of polarities. These extracts were tested for attractiveness to Aedes aegypti females by using an olfactory probing response test, which measured the proportion of mosquitoes probing toward an extract residue. The extracts did not significantly differ from one another in attractiveness. A methanol extract of common milkweed, a methylene chloride extract of Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), and a diethyl ether extract of honey were used in experiments to examine changes in mosquito responsiveness during food deprivation following 3 events: (a) emergence, (b) engorgement on a 5% sucrose solution, and (c) engorgement on blood. Mosquitoes did not respond at emergence or immediately after a sucrose or blood meal, but they became progressively more responsive with increasing food deprivation. The honey extract was more attractive than milkweed in the early stages of deprivation, and milkweed extract was more attractive than both goldenrod and honey extracts in the late stages of deprivation. The return of responsiveness to milkweed occurred sooner after the sucrose meal than after the blood meal. After the blood meal, responsiveness remained low until the oviposition period.

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