Fluid mechanics models of a drinking mosquito

Mosquitoes drink using a pair of in-line pumps in the head that draw liquid food through the proboscis. In the predominantly occurring "continuous mode" of drinking, the cibarial and pharyngeal pumps expand cyclically with a (reasonably) distinct frequency and phase lag. There has also been observed an occasional, isolated "burst mode", in which the pharyngeal pump expansion is 10 to 30 times larger than in the continuous mode. Guided by experimental data obtained from both dead and live mosquitoes, we have built mathematical and computational fluid mechanics models of a representative mosquito feeding system. These models allow us to explore questions of form and function, such as the utility of a two-pump system and the significance of "mechanical efficiency" in the selection of observed drinking parameters.