[Analysis of competitive capacity of male mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae)]

The reproductive behavior of insects is characterized by two types of sexual encounter systems: 1) systems in which males have a resource required for a female and 2) the so-called resource-free systems in while a male has nothing other than sperm to give a female. Selection of the most competitive males in the first-type systems is usually considered from the sexual selection concept, i.e. male resource competition and female selection of a partner that has a better a resource, and appreciated from the individual reproductive success of individuals. The application of this approach to the second-type systems offers apparent problems. The data on possible mechanisms of male competition in the resource-free sexual encounter systems are analyzed using the swarming types of mosquitoes. It is shown that selection of competitive males may occur at several stages of reproductive activity and is determined by both the physiological and behavioral signs of individuals.