蚊子的嗡嗡声让人厌烦，但这却是它们彼此间辨别身份的标志和吸引“另一半”的“情歌”。英国一项最新研究显示，非洲的冈比亚按蚊可以靠声音的差别来区分不同的种群。
英国萨塞克斯大学等机构研究人员在新一期《当代生物学》杂志上报告说，冈比亚按蚊分为多个亚种，这些亚种在外表上几乎完全一致，但却很少杂交，这使得冈比亚按蚊保持了较高的基因多样性，因此适应性更强，从而成为不易对付的疟疾传播载体。
研究人员此前曾发现，蚊子扇动翅膀发出的嗡嗡声可成为它们之间的交流手段。对冈比亚按蚊的最新研究又发现，不同亚种的蚊子在声音频率上有差别。当同一亚种的两只异性冈比亚按蚊互相接近的时候，它们会调整各自的声音频率，达到一个较好的“和声”，然后交配。而不同亚种的蚊子相互间难以完成这场“对歌”，从而避免杂交。
研究人员说，这是首次发现冈比亚按蚊利用声音频率选择配偶的特点，它将有助于通过开发干扰其交配的手段，提高防控疟疾的水平。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Current Biology, 31 December 2009 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.040
“Singing on the Wing” as a Mechanism for Species Recognition in the Malarial Mosquito Anopheles gambiae
Cédric Pennetier1, 2, 4, Ben Warren1, 4, K. Roch Dabiré3, Ian J. Russell1, , and Gabriella Gibson1, 2, ,
1 School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
2 Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich at Medway, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
3 Institut de Recherche en Science de la Sante/Centre Muraz, BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso
Anopheles gambiae, responsible for the majority of malaria deaths annually, is a complex of seven species and several chromosomal/molecular forms. The complexity of malaria epidemiology and control is due in part to An. gambiae's remarkable genetic plasticity, enabling its adaptation to a range of human-influenced habitats. This leads to rapid ecological speciation when reproductive isolation mechanisms develop [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Although reproductive isolation is essential for speciation, little is known about how it occurs in sympatric populations of incipient species [2]. We show that in such a population of “M” and “S” molecular forms, a novel mechanism of sexual recognition (male-female flight-tone matching [7,8,9]) also confers the capability of mate recognition, an essential precursor to assortative mating; frequency matching occurs more consistently in same-form pairs than in mixed-form pairs (p > 0.001). Furthermore, the key to frequency matching is “difference tones” produced in the nonlinear vibrations of the antenna by the combined flight tones of a pair of mosquitoes and detected by the Johnston's organ. By altering their wing-beat frequencies to minimize these difference tones, mosquitoes can match flight-tone harmonic frequencies above their auditory range. This is the first description of close-range mating interactions in incipient An. gambiae species.
