Don't leave the past behind: larval experience shapes pupal antipredator response in Aedes aegypti.

This article investigates behavioral carryover of predation-risk experience from the larval to the pupal stage in the holometabolous mosquito *Aedes aegypti*, focusing on how early exposure to predator cues influences pupal antipredator behavior. Under resource-limited conditions, pupae with larval predation experience exhibited altered diving behaviors—diving more frequently but shallower and with greater variability—compared to naive pupae, and these responses changed contextually depending on the immediate presence of predator cues. However, no carryover effects were observed under resource-rich conditions, and space use and general activity patterns remained unaffected by larval experience in both resource contexts. The study highlights that despite physiological and evolutionary constraints associated with complete metamorphosis, early-life predation risk can shape subsequent life-stage behaviors in a context-dependent manner, emphasizing the role of resource availability in modulating these carryover effects.