Perran Ross
DECRA fellow at the University of Melbourne @pearg.bsky.social | Mosquitoes | Wolbachia | Endosymbionts | Evolutionary Adaptation
- The long-held belief that only female mosquitoes bite may not be true after all. Very excited to have had the opportunity to contribute to this study showing that male mosquitoes can also bite and feed on blood. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- The videos show male mosquitoes trying to bite me. My skin was too thick for them to pierce but they sure did try! You'll see in the paper that they can feed successfully under some conditions.
- I'm not opposed to all GMO mosquitoes, but Queensland is the last place that needs them. Withdrawing the application was the right decision. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
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- CSIRO and Oxitec have withdrawn their application to release genetically modified mosquitoes in Australia consultations.health.gov.au/ogtr/dir-207...
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- I am baffled by the overwhelmingly positive responses to this. When did the idea of using AI to review papers suddenly become acceptable? We must not let AI shape the way we do science.
- I made a stop-motion animation to explain how Wolbachia mosquitoes can control dengue transmission youtu.be/viFCd_ZnPu8?...
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- New paper led by @phiddlesticks.bsky.social shows how endosymbionts can affect aphid responses to predators academic.oup.com/aesa/advance...
- New paper on impacts of different larval diets on the fitness of Wolbachia mosquitoes parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
- How Wolbachia works to control mosquito-borne diseases. An infographic illustrated by Marianne Coquilleau instagram.com/marianne_sea
- Reposted by Perran Ross📢New preprint on the impact of dengue virus genetic diversity on inhibition by Wolbachia 🦟🦠🧬 Project led by Afeez Sodeinde, @emiliefinch.bsky.social, and @keli5734.bsky.social! ✨ Key findings in thread below 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- New preprint from @pearg.bsky.social showing that heat hardening can enhance heat tolerance in mosquitoes www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Mosquito with a bendy proboscis that can't feed. This is a common phenomenon when mosquitoes get older.
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- Also recently published: independent monitoring of Wolbachia releases in Rio de Janeiro shows wMel dropping out due to a multitude of factors journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
- Just came across this opinion piece calling for a pause on the expansion of Wolbachia releases. This is sure to be a controversial one. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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- Thrilled to be a part of this study on Wolbachia and multiple blood feeding. Now published! rdcu.be/eyqaG
- Excited to share this new preprint from @bvanheerwaarden.bsky.social @pearg.bsky.social: Endosymbionts and plasticity can buffer heat-induced male sterility www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- A plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes in Australia is now open for public consultation consultations.health.gov.au/ogtr/dir-207...
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- Here's my article explaining the risks of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in Australia pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/3-r...
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- I had a chat to the Guardian about my concerns with releasing genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in Australia. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... While I am not opposed to the technology there are unique risks with the planned releases here (thread).
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- Frustrating to see such blatant plagiarism by an article in a Wiley journal. See if you can spot the difference. No action has been taken by the journal.
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- There is now a petition to reject the proposed releases of genetically modified mosquitoes in Queensland, Australia www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-...
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- High temperatures reduce mosquito fertility - our latest work now published! @pearg.bsky.social @bvanheerwaarden.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
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- Oxitec to bring GMO mosquitoes to Australia www.oxitec.com/en/news/oxit...
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- Our latest work on Wolbachia mosquitoes is now published! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
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- Wolbachia releases can have protective effects against dengue that reach beyond the release zone www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...
- I am delighted to be on the latest episode of Gardening Australia to talk about mosquitoes www.abc.net.au/gardening/ho...
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- Nice review on potential evolutionary responses to mosquito release programs www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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- The Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG) led by Ary Hoffmann is now on Bluesky @pearg.bsky.social!
- Exciting news: our lab has just received funding to undertake more research into new approaches for controlling agricultural pest insects blogs.unimelb.edu.au/pearg/2024/1...
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- My current work mainly focuses on understanding mosquito responses to climate change. Here's our latest preprint on this topic which shows that mosquito fertility can decline at high temperatures. Stay tuned for more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Now for some aphids. My work focuses on exploring the use of endosymbionts for agricultural pest control. Some of these endosymbionts have dramatic effects like Rickettsiella, which turns aphids dark green. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Reactions to mosquito bites differ dramatically. On the left, you can see how different people react to being bitten by the same number of mosquitoes. On the right is my reaction to bites from two different mosquito species.
- You can tell when mosquitoes are ready to feed by holding your hand next to their enclosure. If they're thirsty they will poke their proboscis through the netting.
- This very rare mosquito is a gynandromorph: one side is male and the other female. The poor thing was unable to fly or blood feed.
- Timelapse video of mosquitoes feeding on my arm
- A lot of my research involves blood feeding mosquitoes. Here's what happens when they don't stop drinking. entomologytoday.org/2020/03/19/w...
- Hello new followers- I'm going to introduce myself by posting a few highlights from my time as a (mostly) mosquito researcher. First of all, here's an animation I made on the mosquito life cycle. youtu.be/hAFOE6okM4w
