New artificial hematophagy system with attractive polymeric biofilm for maintenance of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the laboratory

Background: Maintaining mosquito colonies in the laboratory implies the need for a blood supply so that females can mature their oocytes and perform oviposition. In this study, a new artificial hematophagy system for colonization and maintenance of Cx quinquefasciatus in the laboratory, was developed and tested. Methods: : We developed an attractive polymeric biofilm with 25% L-lactic acid in its composition, to be used as a membrane in the artificial hematophagy system and compared the feeding rate of females with Parafilm - M®. We also evaluated the oviposition rate, larval survival, and adult emergence of females fed through the attractive biofilm. Results: : The average percentage of females of Cx. quinquefasciatus fed through the Attractive biofilm was 87%, while only 20% engorged with Parafilm-M® (p<0.0001). Feeding through the attractive biofilm developed by us was able to produce high rates of the evaluated biological parameters, the percentage of laying of females who performed artificial hematophagy through the biofilm was 90%, with an average of 158 eggs per raft. Of these eggs, 97% of the larvae hatched, of which 95% reached the pupal stage. The adult emergence rate corresponded to 93% of the pupae. Conclusions: : The attractive biofilm was superior to Parafilm-M® in terms of engorgement rate. In addition, feeding with the biofilm ensured significant rates of the evaluated biological parameters and there was no interference of the biofilm components in the biological parameters.