Acoustic observation of Aedes diantaeus males during pairing

The reaction of males of Aedes diantaeus to different auditory stimuli was studied in natural environment during swarming and under laboratory conditions. The males were attrcated by 250-420 Hz that corresponds to the main frequencies of flight tones of sympatric females and the range of sensitivity of the male Johnston's organs. Behavioural data show that in natural environemnt swarming males are attracted by flying conspecific and heterospecific females rather than by dead or immobilized females. Contact with heterospecific females always ended in parting misquitos while contact with cospecific females resulted in pairing. Thus, sarwming males of Aedes diantaeus localize females by their flight tones but recognisze the females of their own species in contact.