Question

1. Mosquitoes are medically important pests as adults but their larvae are important in fish and predatory insect food webs. If you wanted to control mosquitoes with hormone mimics, which naturally occurring hormone would be best to use as a model structure for reducing the numbers of adults emerging from breeding habitats. [___________]

2. Insect parabiosis experiments can be useful to determine…

	A.	Types of bacteria and protists harbored in termite guts
	B.	The role of vitellogenin egg protein during maturation of eggs
	C.	Functional morphology of specific brain regions
	D.	Mobile biochemical factors that may initiate molting
	E.	Whether pheromones are produced by one insect to attract mates
	F.	How to better control insect pests via transfer of insecticides from one individual to another
	G.	How fast insecticides move from the hemolymph to the peripheral nerves
	H.	Factors that initiate insect courting behavior

2. DEET is a registered pesticide with phagodeterrent properties that is smeared on a person’s body. What type of sensilla and on what structural organ of the mosquito would be stimulated by exposure to this chemical if the ability to detect the chemical depended on its vaporization (i.e., volatilization) of DEET molecules from a person's skin?

	A.	mechanoreceptor; tarsi
	B.	chemoreceptor; ovipositor
	C.	thermoreceptor; abdominal tympanum
	D.	chemoreceptor; antenna
	E.	chemoreceptor; Johnson's organ
	F.	IR receptor; cerci
	G.	mechanoreceptor; cerci
	H.	thermoreceptor; mouthparts

3. Juvenile hormone is never produced in female and male adult insects.   Thus the name of this hormone is quite apt in describing all of its functions. Is it true or false.

4. The storage organ that enables insects to produce fertilized eggs long after mating is named the ___________________.

	A.	accessory organ
	B.	ovariole
	C.	spermatophore
	D.	pouch
	E.	ovipositor
	F.	uterus
	G.	spermatheca
	H.	chorion

Answer 1

1) Mosquitoes undergo molting and metamorphosis to emerge as an adult from larval form. The molting hormone, ecdysone is secreted from the prothoracic gland. Similarly, the larval stage is maintained by a hormone called as neotenin or juvenile hormone secreted by corpus allatum. So, by targeting and mimicking this juvenile hormone in mosquitoes, the larval stage can be prolonged and emergence of adult mosquitoes can be controlled. So, the answer is juvenile hormone (neotenin).

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