Scientists working with a new mathematical model may have finally figured out how it is that mosquitoes can hear the faint sounds of a female's flapping wings, but not become deaf when hearing louder noises. The University of Bristol research team has managed to unlock some of the remarkable features, but highlights the fact that more work is needed before more conclusions become available. Details of the scientific study appear in the latest issue of the Journal of the Royal Society: Interface, e! Science News reports.

The active elements involved in mosquitoes' hearing are called scolopidia, and represent multiple individual sensory units. Insects have evolved various types of hearings, if compared with our own. However, their ultimate goals are the same as ours, to turn small energies of a transmitting sound wave into an electrical impulse. Acoustic energy may need a boost in mosquitoes, the researchers note, so it could be that scolopidia appeared to fulfill this very purpose. The sensory unit allows for a lot more of the auditory information to be converted into electrical signals, which are then transmitted to the insects' “central processing unit.”

Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, a Tanzanian mosquito species, was used as a reference point for the new study. The scientists created a simple microscopic ... (read more)