Peter E. Cook et al., 2006, PNAS

Age is a critical determinant of an adult female mosquito’s ability to transmit a range of human pathogens. Despite its central importance, relatively few methods exist with which to accurately determine chronological age of field-caught mosquitoes.

This paper describes a new method to predict the age of field caught mosquitoes. It uses a transcriptional profiling approach to predict mosquito age and is considered an important tool for measuring the potential effect of Wolbachia on mosquito lifespan in the field.