The annoying sound that mosquitoes make when they come around to bite us is music to the ears of their sexual partners, according to a study published today in the journal Science .
Lauren Cator, a Cornell University researcher and study co-author, found that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes alter the vibrations of their wings during mating. Until now, scientists only knew that the annoying buzzing helped the males to get closer to the females. But Cator and his colleagues have shown that when a male and female come together, both insects modify the vibration of their wings to sing a mating duet . Specifically, female Aedes flaps at a frequency of about 400 hertz per second, while males do so at 600 hertz. When the pair meet, they both adjust their rhythm until they achieve a harmonic frequency of 1,200 hertz.
Cator is convinced that if this acoustic courtship process can be interfered with, for example by releasing modified males that cannot adjust their flight tones, mosquito populations could be reduced in areas where they transmit diseases as serious as dengue or yellow fever. .
