How do you farm mosquitoes?

Hanan Lepek, CEO at Senecio Robotics and all-round mosquito enthusiast, gives us a tour of his state-of-the-art mosquito farm.

Health

Mosquitoes are often thought of as bloodsucking, itch-causing, disease-carrying nuisances. So why would anyone want to farm them? The answer lies in management programmes that release millions of sterile males into an environment, preventing wild mosquitoes from finding a mate and collapsing the local population. While malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, only a handful of the 3 500 species of mosquitoes are capable of transmitting it. Furthermore, it’s only the female mosquitoes that bite us. “The primary food source for male mosquitoes is flower nectar, not blood,” explains Lepek, CEO at Senecio Robotics. According to Lepek, as the male mosquitoes eat this nectar, they pollinate plants. “Instead of using insecticides and killing insects indiscriminately, we need to figure out a way to precisely eliminate the bloodsucking, disease-carrying mosquitoes, while preserving the ecosystem and not harming other species.” To do this, we need to know how to farm mosquitoes.

It starts with feeding and breeding

According to Lepek, who operates a mosquito farm in Israel, farming mosquitoes has many similarities to regular farming. You keep the mosquitoes in cages, you feed them, you care for them, and you work to get them to breed. “I can proudly say the mosquitoes we rear live a great life in our lab, with all their needs being addressed, to ensure we breed happy and competitive mosquitoes,” says Lepek. Feeding starts with giving the bugs the sugar and water they need to be strong and healthy. Once they have mated, the female mosquitoes are given different types of blood – usually from cattle or sheep (although small-scale mosquito farmers have been known to simply stick their hand into a cage). “We noticed the source of blood can impact the quality and quantity of the eggs that a female lays,” notes Lepek.

From eggs to adults

Once laid, the eggs are removed from the cages and stored, typically in some form of water or a damp structure. Depending on the species of mosquito, the larvae usually hatch from eggs within hours. These larvae are transferred to water trays, with thousands of individuals per tray. Here they are given fish powder for food, and nurtured in a tightly managed temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. “This is essential to preventing disease, which could cause the colony to collapse,” explains Lepek. Within a week the larvae develop, first turning into pupa and then, a day or two later, emerging as adult mosquitoes.

Sorting the male and female mosquitoes

When the mosquitoes reach maturity, Lepek’s farm uses a highly advanced system, which he developed with the support of the EU-funded RoboSIT project, to separate the male mosquitoes from the females. “Our system can sort millions of mosquitoes at a time, packaging them in either tubes or dishes,” he says. Those male mosquitoes earmarked for eventual release will be irradiated and made sterile. “That way, when released into yards, parks and neighbourhoods, they can go about fertilising plants but not females,” concludes Lepek. The net result is a dramatic reduction in local mosquito populations within just a few weeks – all without the need for potentially harmful insecticides. As for the remaining mosquitoes, including the females, many are sent back to the farm’s cages where they can mate, lay eggs and start the next cycle of mosquito farming. You can read more about Lepek’s research and mosquito sorting, packaging, and shipping technology here: Using technology to squash the risk of mosquitoes.

Keywords

RoboSIT, mosquito, mosquitoes, mosquito farm, nectar, blood, pollinate, insecticide, larvae, pupa