Overview
- Rockefeller University scientists combined fluorescent-sperm transgenic Aedes aegypti with high-speed, high-resolution imaging to capture mid-air mating mechanics.
- Copulation occurs only when the female elongates the tip of her genitalia to enable interlocking, and without this movement male attempts do not succeed.
- Dissections showed more than 90% of females stored sperm from a single male, consistent with one-time mating events that last about 14 seconds.
- Males initiate contact by tapping with gonostyli, yet the decisive step is the rapid, female-driven elongation that functions as a mechanical lock-and-key.
- Aedes albopictus males, with longer gonostyli, can bypass A. aegypti females’ refusal to interlock, leading to sterilizing cross-species mating and offering a plausible mechanism for observed displacement, with control applications requiring further testing.