Interaction of Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Diptera: Culicidae) and Other Mosquito Vectors in a Forested Area, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The yellow fever (YF) virus has been detected throughout Brazil, with the occurrence of human cases, cyclic epizootics, and its isolation from Haemagogus janthinomys and Hg. leucocelaenus. We assessed the seasonal occurrence, egg abundancy, and oviposition interaction of mosquito vector species captured at a Private Natural Heritage Reserve in the Atlantic Forest biome. A total of 2943 eggs and 1538 mosquito larvae were collected from which 1231 belonged to entomologically important species. Ovitraps were used to collect immature mosquitoes from September 2019 to January 2021. The Mann–Whitney test was used to assess the differences in the abundance of eggs between rainy and dry seasons. Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn’s post hoc tests were used to evaluate the significance of the differences in the number of individuals from vector species. The highest percentage of mosquito vector eggs were collected during the rainy season, from December to February. Most eggs recovered from ovitraps belonged to the species Hg. leucocelaenus, representing 85% of all mosquito eggs identified. The other species had lower abundances and percentages: Aedes terrens (7%), Haemagogus janthinomys (5%) and Aedes albopictus (3%). The species that shared breeding sites with a higher frequency were Hg. leucocelaenus and Hg. janthinomys, with a statistically positive correlation (ρ = 0.74). This finding suggests that maybe the presence of Hg. leucocelaenus eggs acted as an attractant for Hg. janthinomys or vice versa. An understanding of mosquito oviposition behavior is necessary for the development of surveillance and control approaches directed against specific pathogen vectors of medical and veterinary importance.

Report of Mosquito Vectors of Arboviruses from a Federal Conservation Unit in the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

“…These findings corroborate those of a study on the diversity of culicid vectors in an Atlantic Forest remnant also performed with ovitraps; the authors noticed that culicid diversity was greatest in the rainy season [ 34 ]. There are many studies regarding wet and dry seasons’ effect on malaria vector mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles ; however, there are few studies on the effects of these seasons on YF vector mosquitoes of the genera Haemagogus , Sabethes , and Wyeomyia , like the ones described in this study [ 7 , 35 , 36 ]. We also observed mosquitoes of the genus Aedes , known for pathogen transmission of many arboviral diseases such as dengue, zika, and chikungunya [ 3 , 37 ].…”