Erasmus+ mobility: PhD candidate Adwine Vanslembrouck participated in a productive field training in Frankfurt

“During this week, we focused on collecting and identifying Culex egg rafts in various locations, for which we went to specific allotment gardens and botanical gardens in and near Frankfurt, and graveyards at the Rhine valley. Our aim was to collect Culex hortensis egg rafts for upcoming experiments”, Adwine Vanslembrouck explains.

Local supervisor of the traineeship at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Dr Friederike Reuß, provided training on the key morphological characteristics of various Culex species. In addition, she showed Adwine the locations where the thermophilic species Culex hortensis has been previously found, and explained the ecological parameters and background of this species, including vegetation type, shading, microhabitat, and seasonal aspects.

Once back in the lab at Goethe University, they measured these egg rafts to gain detailed information about specific morphological characteristics. This information will be invaluable for identifying egg rafts during future fieldwork, as Culex egg raft identification is not commonly performed.

This training is part of Adwine’s PhD thesis, as they derived interesting data from Culex hortensis during previous experiments. Although it is generally accepted that this species has thermophilic characteristics, this hypothesis has never been tested before. Currently, they are rearing these egg rafts in the ITM insectary to conduct heat exposure experiments and to gain more information about the species.