This mosquitoes They are attracted to red and therefore they bite those who see them dressed in this color more.. This is the result of recent scientific research that provides hitherto unknown tips to combat these pesky insects. Avoiding clothing in this shade can help keep mosquitoes away.
Research led by scientists at the University of Washington shows that a mosquito species flies towards certain ‘colors’ such as red, orange, black and blue after detecting the CO2 that humans exhale as they breathe. This mosquitoes ignore other colors like green, purple, blue and white.
Researchers believe these findings help explain how mosquitoes find hosts, because human skin also emits a strong orange-red “signal” to its eyes, regardless of pigmentation..
In fact, these insects seem to ‘smell’ the colors that seem the most promising to them. “Mosquitoes seem to use scent to help them distinguish what’s nearby, such as a biting host,” said lead author Jeffrey Riffell, a UW biology professor.
“When they smell certain compounds, such as CO2, coming from our breath, that scent stimulates their eyes to seek out certain colors. and other visual models that associate with and target a potential host,” he explains.
The results just published, Nature Communicationexplain how the mosquito’s sense of smell affects its visual abilities. Knowing which colors attract hungry mosquitoes and which do not can help you design better repellents, traps, and other methods to keep these pesky insects away.
Our skin is also red against mosquitoes.
“One of the most common questions I get is ‘What can I do to prevent mosquitoes from biting me?’ “I would say there are three main signals that attract mosquitoes: your breath, your sweat, and the warmth of your skin. In this study, we found a fourth sign: the color red, which is found not only in your clothes but also in everyone’s skin.“, He claimed.
“No matter what your skin tone is, we all have a strong signature of red. Filter the attractive colors in our skin or Wearing clothing that avoids these colors can be another way to prevent mosquito bites.“, added.
In their experiments, the team monitored the behavior of female yellow fever mosquitoes. aedes aegypti, when presented with different kinds of visual and olfactory cues. Like all mosquito species, only females drink blood and bite. A. aegypti They can transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika.
Researchers have investigated mosquitoes closed individual in small containersthat they spray with certain scents and display different visual patterns, such as a colored dot or a tasty human hand.
Mosquitoes largely ignored the color point regardless of color, without any olfactory stimuli. After a CO2 spray into the room, the mosquitoes continued to ignore the spot, whether it was green, blue, or purple. But if the spot was red, orange, black or cyan, mosquitoes would fly towards it.
Yousiphon smell CO2, they prefer red
Humans cannot smell CO2, the gas we and other animals breathe with every breath. But mosquitoes can smell it. Previous research by Riffell’s team and other groups showed that: The smell of CO2 increases the activity level. mosquitoes female: They search the area around them, possibly looking for a host. Experiments with colored dots revealed that: After smelling CO2, their eyes mosquitoes they prefer certain wavelengths in the visual spectrum.
Researchers note that it’s similar to what happens when people smell something nice. “Imagine you’re on the pavement and smell delicious lemon cake. That’s probably a sign that there’s a bakery nearby, and you can start looking for it. Here we are starting to learn what images mosquitoes are looking for after sniffing their version of a bakery,” he explained.
Most people have “true color” vision: we see different wavelengths of light as different colors: for example, 650 nanometers are shown in red, while 450 nanometers are shown in blue.
Researchers do not know whether mosquitoes perceive colors in the same way as our eyes. However Most of the colors mosquitoes prefer (orange, red, and black) after they smell CO2 correspond to longer wavelengths of light.. Human skin also emits a long wavelength signal in the red-orange range, regardless of pigmentation.
When Riffell’s team repeated the chamber experiments with human tan pigment cards or with a researcher’s bare hand, the mosquitoes flew towards the visual stimulus only after CO2 was introduced into the chamber. When the researchers used filters to remove the long wavelength signals or when the researcher wore a green glove, the mosquitoes that inhaled the CO2 were no longer flying towards the stimulus.
Genes determine that these females prefer red-orange colors. Mosquitoes with a mutated copy of a gene that should smell CO2 no longer showed a color preference in the test. Another mutant mosquito species with a vision-related change that prevented them from “seeing” long wavelengths of light was more colorblind in the presence of CO2.
“These experiments demonstrate the first steps mosquitoes take to find their hosts,” Riffell said. Said.
The authors explained that more research is needed to determine how other visual and olfactory cues, such as skin secretions, help mosquitoes attack potential hosts at close range. Other species may also have different color preferences depending on the host species they prefer. But in any case, these new findings provide new clues for mosquito control: color.
Reference work: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28195-x