The microsporidian, Brachiola gambiae, parasitizes the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Adult female mosquitoes must take blood meals in order for their eggs to develop, and it is while they take blood that they transmit malarial parasites to humans. Male mosquitoes drink flower nectar. If humans are to safely and effectively use Brachiola gambiae as a biological control to reduce human deaths from malaria, then how many of the following statements should be true?
1. Brachiola should kill the mosquitoes before the malarial parasite they carry reaches maturity.
2. The microsporidian should not be harmful to other insects.
3. Microsporidians should infect mosquito larvae, rather than mosquito adults.
4. The subsequent decline in anopheline mosquitoes should not significantly disrupt human food resources or other food webs.
5. Brachiola must be harmful to male mosquitoes, but not to female mosquitoes.
A) one statement only
B) two statements
C) three statements
D) four statements
E) all five statements
A female mosquito Culiseta longiareolata
Anopheles larva from southern Germany, about 8 mm long
Mosquito drinking blood
Hemostats: mosquito forceps.
Aedes mosquito, the vector for West Nile virus encephalitis.
A culex tarsalis mosquito, a common vector of the spread of West Nile virus.