Description of an automatic copulation induction system used to establish a free-mating laboratory colony of Nyssorhynchus deaneorum from Brazil

BACKGROUND: Nyssorhynchus deaneorum is a potential malaria vector because it has been shown to be competent to transmit Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum, and because it exhibits antropophilic and endophilic behaviors in some regions of the Amazon. This profile makes Ny. deaneorum a useful mosquito for experiments that model Plasmodium-vector interactions in the Amazon. OBJECTIVE: Herein we describe how a free-mating colony of Ny. deaneorum has been established using an automated light stimulation system. METHODS: Mosquitoes were captured in São Francisco do Guaporé, Rondônia. The F1 generation was reared until adult emergence at which point copulation was induced using an automatic copulation induction system (ACIS). FINDINGS: After four generations, natural mating and oviposition began to occur without light stimulation. The number of pupae and adult mosquitoes increased from the F(5) to F(10) generations. The new Ny. deaneorum colony exhibited susceptibility to P. vivax. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Automated light stimulation is an effective method for establishing an Ny. deaneorum colony under laboratory conditions as it produces enough adults to create a stenogamic colony. The establishment of a stable, P. vivax-susceptible colony of Ny. deaneorum makes it possible to model parasite-vector interactions and to test novel drug therapies that target parasite development in mosquitoes.