8 

 for the action of deet; it too inhibits the response of the lactic acid excitatory 



neuron. It has been observed that mosquitoes exhibit slower flight rates upon 



exposure to repellent; turn angles are greatly increased and the number of turn 



readjustments taken is also increased. Therefore, deet does not repel; rather, it 



inhibits favorable response to mosquito attractant(s). 



Mosquito Attractants 



The mechanism of attraction or repulsion from a potential host involves a 

 behavioral response by the mosquito to one or more stimuli. This overall response 

 has been characterized as a four-step process; detection of stimuli by the PNS, 

 interpretation of the stimuli by the CNS, activation of the appropriate response to 

 the stimuli, and mosquito response [4]. This response can be in the form of 

 attraction, repulsion, or can be anosmic towards the source of the stimuli. 



Sound attracts male mosquitoes via the Johnston's organs in the antennae; 

 however, this connotation is more specific for attraction of males to females, via 

 wingbeat frequency, for purposes of procreation. The stimuli used by mosquitoes for 

 host location are visual cues [4-6,9,10,13-15], moisture [4-6,16], heat [4-6,16], carbon 

 dioxide [4-7,9, 1 1, 13, 15-24], and chemical (olfactory) attractants [4-6,9, 1 1, 13, 16, 18-24]. 

 Pheromones are long or short range olfactory attractants among members of the 

 same species for purposes of mating. In Ae. aegypti, the male tarsal chemosensilla 

 has been found to detect a female contact pheromone. Attraction to bacteria has 

 been examined [17]; although the results demonstrated some attraction resulting 



