Insect vectors have personality: first evidence with the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus

In recent decades, our view of inter-individual diversity in insects has been deeply impacted by the discovery that they exhibit individual personalities, expressed as consistent individual differences in behavioral tendencies across time and contexts. Personality traits, such as boldness, exploration, and activity, have been documented in several species and linked to variation in multiple life history traits with consequences for insect population ecology. However, personalities remain largely unexplored in mosquito vectors. Here, we investigated the presence of personality traits in the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus larvae. A total of 41 larvae (16 males, 18 females, 7 unsexed) were individually tested under laboratory conditions. Activity was measured by time spent in locomotion in the housing trays, exploration by the area covered in a novel environment, and boldness by the latency to re-emerge after a simulated aerial threat. All behavioral traits showed significant repeatability through time, with no significant effect of sex. Moreover, boldness, activity, and exploration were significantly correlated, with more active larvae being bolder and more exploratory. Overall, our results reveal the occurrence of personalities in mosquito vector larvae. We propose that incorporating personality into mosquito research could offer new insights into their biology and ecology, with potential implications for vector control strategies and the management of mosquito-borne diseases.