The control of the diuresis following a blood meal in females of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti (L)

Abstract

Control of post-feeding diuresis in females of the mosquito Aëdes aegypti has been studied by means of a weighing technique and simple surgical procedures. The primary controlling factor is (as in the larva) a nervous feedback mechanism and not an increased production of diuretic hormone. As the mosquito ingests blood, sensory information from the distending abdomen reaches the mid gut via the nerve cord, brain and stomatogastric system. This information probably inhibits retroperistaltic movements of the mid gut allowing fluid from the Malpighian tubules (which seems to be produced continually) to be moved back to the rectum for subsequent excretion, instead of being re-cycled to the haemolymph via the mid gut. Such a control does not preclude a role for the diuretic hormone, continual secretion of which may cause the continual production of fluid from the Malpighian tubules.