Host specificity of Amblyospora connecticus (Microsporida: Amblyosporidae), a polymorphic microsporidian parasite of Aedes cantator (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Amblyospora connecticus Andreadis, a microsporidian parasite of the brown saltmarsh mosquito, Aedes cantator (Coquillett), was successfully transmitted to Ae. atropalpus (Coquillett), Ae. epactius Dyar and Knab, Ae. sierrensis (Ludlow), and Ae. triseriatus (Say) following larval exposure to spores from the intermediate copepod host, Acanthocyclops vernalis (Fischer). The microsporidium underwent normal vegetative growth and multiplication in fat body, muscle, and Malpighian tubule tissues of all four alternate mosquito hosts but produced spores only in female Ae. epactius. However, in no alternate host was A. connecticus able to infect the ovaries and complete its life cycle via transovarial transmission, thus indicating a high degree of specificity for Ae. cantator. Fifteen other mosquito species in Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, Culiseta, and Psorophora also were tested and found to be nonsusceptible.