Polyandry in nulliparous Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

A wild-type black-eyed strain (PALA DR) and a mutant white-eyed strain (S104) of Anopheles gambiae Giles were used to determine whether nulliparous mosquitoes of this species are polyandrous. White-eyed females were given the opportunity to mate with black-eyed and white-eyed males. As the white-eye gene is recessive and is located on the X chromosome the presence of both white- and black-eyed females in a female's egg batch denotes that she mated with males of both types. Three out of 52 egg batches gave rise to both white-and black-eyed females. Only a proportion of multiple matings can be detected in this way; those involving males of only one type go undetected. It is estimated that, under the conditions prevailing during the experiment, 12% of nulliparous A. gambiae are polyandrous.