Darker eggs of mosquitoes resist more to dry conditions: Melanin enhances serosal cuticle contribution in egg resistance to desiccation in Aedes, Anopheles and Culex vectors.

• Main Authors: Luana C Farnesi (Author), Helena C M Vargas (Author), Denise Valle (Author), Gustavo L Rezende (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2017-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Mosquito vectors lay their white eggs in the aquatic milieu. During early embryogenesis water passes freely through the transparent eggshell, which at this moment is composed of exochorion and endochorion. Within two hours the endochorion darkens via melanization but even so eggs shrink and perish i...