Length-mass allometries of larval mosquitoes and aquatic dipterans: differences between taxa, traits and methods

Body mass underpins many ecological processes at the level of individuals, populations and communities. Often estimated in arthropods from linear traits such as body length or head width, these relationships can vary even between closely related taxa. Length-mass relationships of mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae are poorly known, despite the importance of this taxon to disease and aquatic ecology. To fill this gap, we measured ontogenetic changes in linear traits (body length, head width and thorax width) and dry and wet masses, and estimated length- and width-mass relationships in larvae of three Culicidae species inhabiting different niches: the tropical Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894), the temperate Culex pipiens (Linnaeus, 1758) and the snowmelt Ochlerotatus punctor (Kirby, 1837). We compared these data with published length-weight allometries of other larval aquatic dipterans. We show that thorax width and body length, but not head width, reliably predict body mass for the three..., Aedes albopictus and C. pipiens were raised in the laboratory. The eggs, from laboratory, were immediately placed in aged tap-water at 20°C upon delivery. After hatching, larvae of each species were kept together in 10 L containers in temperature-controlled rooms (18L:6D photoperiod) at ca. 25°C, and fed three times a week with Brewer's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at ca 100 mg.L-1. Ochlerotatus punctor larvae were collected in a swamp in the Czech Republic and maintained in 10 L plastic containers in thermal cabinets at 6°C (mean ± SD = 6.1 ± 0.2 °C) with 9L:15D photoperiod and fed with grounded Brewer's yeast.
We measured the total body length (TL; from the tip of the head to the base of the siphon), maximum thorax width (TW) and head width across eyes (HW) of each individual with QuickPhoto 3.1 software (Promicra, Czech Republic) from pictures taken with an Infinity1 camera (Lumenera, Canada) mounted on an Olympus SZX10 stereomicroscope. Each individual was then gently blotted on a..., , # Length-mass allometries of larval mosquitoes and aquatic dipterans: differences between taxa, traits and methods

The table provides the measures mosquitoes used in our analysis to determine the length-mass allometries.

## Description of the data and file structure

The table provides the measures of the total body length (from the tip of the head to the base of the siphon), the maximum thorax width, the head width across eyes (all in mm), and the wet and dry masses (in mg) of three Culicidae species: *Culex pipiens* (CULX), *Aedes albopictus* (AEDS) and *Ochlerotatus punctor* (OCHL), measured at consecutives larval stages.

Individual ID formatted as : species-individual number-date of arrival in the lab.

Some additional *Aedes* from the same batches and raised in the same conditions as the other larvae were measured to increase the number of data, and are noted *AEDS-SuppXXX*