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Deadliest Animals with the Thinnest Wings : Near-Infrared Properties of Tropical Mosquitoes

Li, Meng LU orcid ; Månefjord, Hampus LU orcid ; Hernandez, Julio ; Müller, Lauro LU ; Brackmann, Christian LU ; Merdasa, Aboma LU orcid ; Kirkeby, Carsten ; Bulo, Mengistu Dawit ; Ignell, Rickard LU and Brydegaard, Mikkel LU (2025) In Applied Spectroscopy
Abstract

Tropical mosquitoes transmit diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and Zika. Classifying mosquitoes by species, sex, age, and gravidity offers vital insights for assessing transmission risk and effective mitigations. Photonic monitoring for mosquito classification can be used in distributed sensors or lidars on longer ranges. However, a reflectance model and its parameters are lacking in the current literature. This study investigates mosquitoes of different species, sexes, age groups, and gravidity states, and reports metric pathlengths of wing chitin, body melanin, and water. We use hyperspectral push-broom imaging and laser multiplexing with a rotation stage to measure near-infrared spectra from different angles and develop simple... (More)

Tropical mosquitoes transmit diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and Zika. Classifying mosquitoes by species, sex, age, and gravidity offers vital insights for assessing transmission risk and effective mitigations. Photonic monitoring for mosquito classification can be used in distributed sensors or lidars on longer ranges. However, a reflectance model and its parameters are lacking in the current literature. This study investigates mosquitoes of different species, sexes, age groups, and gravidity states, and reports metric pathlengths of wing chitin, body melanin, and water. We use hyperspectral push-broom imaging and laser multiplexing with a rotation stage to measure near-infrared spectra from different angles and develop simple models for spectral reflectance, including wing thickness and equivalent absorption path lengths for melanin and water. We demonstrate wing thickness of 174 (±1) nm – the thinnest wings reported to our knowledge. Water and melanin pathlengths are determined with ∼10 µm precision, and spectral models achieve adjusted R² values exceeding 95%. While mosquito aspect angle impacts the optical cross-section, it alters shortwave infrared spectra minimally (∼2%). These results demonstrate the potential for remote retrieval of micro- and nanoscopic mosquito features using spectral sensors and lidars irrespective of insect body orientation. Improved specificity of vector monitoring can be foreseen.

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; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
ballistic light, biophotonics, hyperspectral, lidar, Mosquito, remote microscopy, small animal imaging, thin-film, tissue spectroscopy
in
Applied Spectroscopy
article number
00037028251341317
publisher
Society for Applied Spectroscopy
external identifiers
  • pmid:40501281
  • scopus:105008076715
ISSN
1943-3530
DOI
10.1177/00037028251341317
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
784ae518-caf4-42fa-9628-c5d6387867f7
date added to LUP
2025-06-15 11:42:06
date last changed
2025-08-14 10:43:53
@article{784ae518-caf4-42fa-9628-c5d6387867f7,
  abstract     = {{<p>Tropical mosquitoes transmit diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and Zika. Classifying mosquitoes by species, sex, age, and gravidity offers vital insights for assessing transmission risk and effective mitigations. Photonic monitoring for mosquito classification can be used in distributed sensors or lidars on longer ranges. However, a reflectance model and its parameters are lacking in the current literature. This study investigates mosquitoes of different species, sexes, age groups, and gravidity states, and reports metric pathlengths of wing chitin, body melanin, and water. We use hyperspectral push-broom imaging and laser multiplexing with a rotation stage to measure near-infrared spectra from different angles and develop simple models for spectral reflectance, including wing thickness and equivalent absorption path lengths for melanin and water. We demonstrate wing thickness of 174 (±1) nm – the thinnest wings reported to our knowledge. Water and melanin pathlengths are determined with ∼10 µm precision, and spectral models achieve adjusted R² values exceeding 95%. While mosquito aspect angle impacts the optical cross-section, it alters shortwave infrared spectra minimally (∼2%). These results demonstrate the potential for remote retrieval of micro- and nanoscopic mosquito features using spectral sensors and lidars irrespective of insect body orientation. Improved specificity of vector monitoring can be foreseen.</p>}},
  author       = {{Li, Meng and Månefjord, Hampus and Hernandez, Julio and Müller, Lauro and Brackmann, Christian and Merdasa, Aboma and Kirkeby, Carsten and Bulo, Mengistu Dawit and Ignell, Rickard and Brydegaard, Mikkel}},
  issn         = {{1943-3530}},
  keywords     = {{ballistic light; biophotonics; hyperspectral; lidar; Mosquito; remote microscopy; small animal imaging; thin-film; tissue spectroscopy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  publisher    = {{Society for Applied Spectroscopy}},
  series       = {{Applied Spectroscopy}},
  title        = {{Deadliest Animals with the Thinnest Wings : Near-Infrared Properties of Tropical Mosquitoes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00037028251341317}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/00037028251341317}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}