Meeting Abstract
Nocturnal mosquitoes exhibit a behavioural response to divert away from surfaces despite visual cues being unavailable, indicating a short-range, non-visual collision avoidance mechanism. We hypothesised that this is mediated by mechanosensory feedback, with mosquitoes detecting and reacting to modulations of their own induced aerodynamic field as they enter ground or wall effect. We investigated the sensory information available for the putative mechanism using computational fluid dynamics of low-altitude and near-wall mosquito flight. Our simulations are based on detailed 3D wing kinematics extracted from high-speed recordings of free flying Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes. Our results reveal areas of relative pressure changes surrounding the body and head that are associated with close proximity to the ground and wall planes. The pressure modulation could provide useful information to the flight controller: a mechanism we term ‘aerodynamic imaging’.
