In what amounts to another reason for mosquito population control, a recent study by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development showed mosquitoes might also transmit WNV to other mosquitoes diagonally through their feces*.
Thinking more broadly, the study authors suggest a “potential for diagonal transmission to act as a transmission bridge for viruses between different species of mosquito vectors.”
Source: EquiManagement, August 5, 2024. Link.
*Curious?
- Do mosquitos poop or pee?, Animal Facts. Link. Elvis Alcequiez explains how a mosquito’s Malpigio’s tubules take the excess nitrogen from digestive proteins and turn it into a paste of uric acid which ends up mixed undigestible parts of the insect’s diet in the rectum. The result is more like diarrhea than urine or a feces.
- Mosquito pooping video, You Tube, Abdulaziz Dadarkar, January 11, 2017. Link. [0:48] Expand the video to view full screen and watch closely at 16 to 19 seconds.
