Autogenous

Definition

Of an insect: capable of producing viable eggs using only endogenous nutrient reserves accumulated during larval development, without requiring adult feeding (especially a blood meal) prior to oviposition. Contrasts with anautogeny, in which females must feed as adults to provision their eggs. Autogeny is common in mosquitoes that inhabit temporary aquatic habitats where host-seeking before egg-laying would risk mortality, and in many non-hematophagous insects where adult feeding is reduced or absent.

Etymology

From Greek autos (self) + -genēs (born, produced)

Example

The salt-marsh mosquito Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus is autogenous: females emerging from pupae can lay their first egg batch without blood-feeding, using larval-derived reserves to provision approximately 50–100 eggs.

Synonyms

• autogenic

Related Terms

• anautogeny
• Teneral
• Oogenesis
• Vitellogenesis
• blood meal
• gonotrophic cycle

Usage Notes

Primarily used in medical and veterinary entomology concerning mosquitoes and other blood-feeding Diptera, though applicable to any insect with this reproductive mode. Distinguished from 'autogeny' mainly by grammatical function (adjective vs. noun). Not to be confused with abiogenesis (origin of life) or autogenesis in systems theory.