Glossary

Here you can find all the key terms we mention in the articles explained!

Acquisition (of a pathogen): The process by which a vector picks up a pathogen while feeding on an infected host.

Aedes aegypti: The yellow fever mosquito; a major vector of dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

Alkaloids: Naturally occurring chemical compounds, often found in plants, that can have powerful biological effects, such as acting as poisons or medicines.

Arboreal: Living or occurring in trees.

Barcode gap: Genetic difference between variation within species and between species used to distinguish them.

Bioactive compounds: Natural substances that affect living organisms — they can have medicinal or toxic effects.

Bioindicators: organisms that help reveal the health of an environment.

Blood feeding: The process by which parasites like mosquitoes or ticks obtain nutrients from the blood of a host.

Borrelia burgdorferi: A group of spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochetes) responsible for causing Lyme disease.

Brood: a collective term for offspring. In social insects this includes egg, larva, and pupa.

Canopy nesting: Building nests in the upper layers of trees rather than on the ground.

Commensalism: an ecological phenomenon where one species benefits and the other is neither at an advantage or a disadvantage

Conservation: The act of protecting environments and ecosystems with the goal of preserving the wildlife in that area.

Co-transport: The identity and frequency of the pollen grains that insects carry together.

Cryptic species: Species that are genetically distinct but very similar in appearance.

Cryptobiosis: a kind of deep sleep

Culex quinquefasciatus: The southern house mosquito; known to transmit West Nile virus and other pathogens.

Culex pipiens: The northern house mosquito; another species involved in transmitting some arboviruses.

Dark taxa: Organisms known from genetic data or collected material that lack formal taxonomic identification.

Decouple: to separate or disconnect one factor from another

Digestive enzymes: Chemicals in the mosquito gut that break down food and may destroy pathogens.

Diversity: A measure of how many different types are present in a mix. For example, a bumblebee has more diverse pollen loads because it carries a wider variety of pollen grains.

DNA barcode: Standardized DNA fragment used for rapid species identification through database comparison.

Dorsal: The upper or back side of an animal.

Eco-friendly: Not harmful to the environment.

Ecological indicators: organisms that reveal how healthy or polluted an environment is

Enzymes: Proteins in living organisms that speed up chemical reactions.

Extracts: Substances obtained by removing a part of a plant or organism, usually by soaking it in a liquid like alcohol or water.

Fatty acids: Building blocks of fats in the body and in food.

Fitness: the biological health an individual indicative of its chance of survival

High-throughput sequencing: Technologies that enable rapid processing of large numbers of DNA samples.

Horizontally transferred genes: Genes which have been picked up from bacteria, fungi, or plants in the ancestors of current insects.

Host: An organism that a parasite or pathogen lives in or feeds on.

Insecticidal properties: The ability of a substance to kill insects.

Insecticide: A chemical substance used to kill insects.

Interrupted feeding: A situation where a mosquito begins feeding on one host but stops and continues feeding on another host, potentially spreading pathogens.

Ixodes: A genus of ticks (often called deer ticks or black-legged ticks) known to transmit Lyme disease.

Jurassic: A period of time that ended 143.1 million years ago.

Larvae: The immature, early form of an insect before it becomes an adult.

Larval silk: Silk produced by larvae and used by workers as a binding material.

Larval Host Plants: the one or more plant species larvae of the corresponding insect species feed on

Lepidoptera: Meaning ‘scaled-wing’, Lepidoptera is a group of insects which comprises of moths and butterflies.

Living bridges: Temporary structures formed by ants linking their bodies to span gaps.

Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis): An infectious disease caused by Borrelia bacteria and transmitted primarily by ticks.

Mosquito: A blood-feeding insect belonging to the family Culicidae; some species transmit diseases such as malaria, dengue, and Zika.

Mosquito gut: The digestive system of a mosquito where ingested pathogens may survive, multiply, or be destroyed.

Multivoltine: when an insect species breeds multiple times in one year

Mutualism: A type of interaction between two or more species where there is an overall benefit for the individuals involved.

Nest aggregation: Distribution of multiple nests belonging to the same colony within a tree.

Oviposition: egg-laying (usually of an insect)

Pesticides: A chemical used in agriculture to control or reduce the amount of harmful insects.

Pollen load: The amount of pollen transported by insects such as bees.

Pollination: The process by which pollen moves from the stamens (male part) of a flower to the stigma (female part), allowing fertilization.

Predatory biocontrol: Use of predatory ants to reduce pest populations.

RNA Interference: A type of biotechnology used to interfere with RNA which then interferes with the production of certain proteins within an organism.

Reference database: Curated collection of DNA sequences linked to identified specimens for matching unknown samples.

Resistance: The ability of insects (like mosquitoes) to survive exposure to a chemical (insecticide) that was previously effective against them. When an organism has developed a way to overcome treatment by certain chemicals or pesticides.

Saliva (in vectors): Fluid injected by blood-feeding insects during feeding; some pathogens move from the vector’s gut to the saliva before infecting the host.

Sequence matching: Process of comparing DNA sequences to determine similarity and infer species identity.

Species richness: the number of different species in a place

Taxon: A taxon (plural taxa) is a collection of one or more populations (groups) of an organism.

Taxonomic bottleneck: Shortage of experts that limits the speed of species identification and description.

Terpenes: Organic compounds found in many plants that often have strong smells and are sometimes used in natural insect repellents.

Territorial behavior: Defensive actions used to protect colony space and resources.

Thermophilous: organisms which favour warm temperatures

Tick: A small arachnid parasite that feeds on blood. Some ticks transmit pathogens to humans and animals.

Trade-off: a sacrifice in one factor to benefit another

Transmission: The transfer of a pathogen from a vector to a new host.

Univoltine: when an insect species only breeds once in one year

Vector: A living organism (often an insect) that spreads disease.

Vector-borne disease: A disease transmitted by a living carrier such as mosquitoes, ticks, or fleas. Examples include Lyme disease, malaria, and dengue.

Vector competence: The ability of a vector species to acquire, maintain, and transmit a pathogen.