Re: Research into mosquito larvae in pitchers
Yeah, good point, but we have to take things one step at a time. We know that Anopheles are super-rare in Nepenthes pitchers, if not completely absent. We also know that a lot of the mosquito species that normally colonise pitchers are Culex species. This means that investigating Culex in pitchers and their potential role as vectors will be more complicated and will require students who can identify/distinguish closely related mosquito species. We don't have any of those at Monash at the moment! Aedes/dengue appears to be the main arbovirus problem in urban areas in Malaysia at this time and it's the easiest to work with, so that's where we'll start.
Cheers,
Charles
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