A Meta-analysis of Longevity Estimates of Mosquito Vectors of Disease

Mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths than any other animal, yet we still know relatively little about their ecology. Mosquito lifespan is a key determinant of the force of transmission for the diseases they vector, but the field experiments and dissection methods used to determine this quantity produce estimates with high uncertainty. In this paper, we use Bayesian hierarchical models to analyse a previously published database of 232 mark-release-recapture (MRR) experiments and two databases of different types of mosquito dissection experiments. One, compiled by us, consisted of 131 detailed estimates of the number of egg-laying (gonotrophic) cycles, the other, a recently published dataset of 1490 studies of parity (whether a mosquito has laid eggs or not) in anopheline malaria vectors. We analysed all studies with the same methodology and used Bayesian hierarchical statistics to obtain estimate at the species and genus level. For the major African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.l., we estimate lifespans ranging from 4.4 days (from MRR analysis) to 10.3 days (from parity analysis). For the predominantly East-African vector An. funestus s.l., our lifespan estimates range from 4.2 days (MRR) to 7.1 days (dichotomous parity analysis). We estimate lifespans ranging from 4.7 days (physiological age analysis) to 6.2 days (MRR) for Aedes aegypti, and a lifespan of 11.6 days for Ae. Albopictus (only present in MRR data) - the predominant vectors of key arboviruses. Additionally, we estimate that female mosquitoes outlive males by 1.2 days on average (mean estimate; 25%-75% CI: 0.3-1.6 days). By fitting a range of survival models to the data, we found relatively little evidence for senescence in the field. Our analyses, supplemented by power analyses, indicate the considerable uncertainty that remains about mosquito lifespan in the wild. We conclude further progress will require larger and longer experiments or the development of novel new methodologies. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.