Fig 1. Schematic of experiments (A, B and C) and of the mosquito including the compartments of our mathematical model (D).

Once ingested as part of the bloodmeal, the virus is in the mosquito lumen. It subsequently invades the midgut epithelium before escaping into the haemocoel, invading secondary tissues such as the salivary glands, and being transmitted during a subsequent feeding episode. The rate of invasion of the midgut and the rate of viral escape from it are controlled by the epithelium length.