Interspecific Competition of a New Invasive Mosquito,Culex coronator, and Two Container Mosquitoes,Aedes albopictusandCx. quinquefasciatus(Diptera: Culicidae), Across Different Detritus Environments

Abstract

The mosquito Culex coronator (Dyar and Knab) (Diptera: Culicidae) has undergone rapid range expansion in the United States since 2003, with its historical distribution in the southwest expanding eastward to the Atlantic coast. Although Cx. coronator nominally use small natural aquatic habitats for development, the use of containers (e.g., tires) makes it potentially important as container invasive. To determine the potential ecological effects of Cx. coronator on resident container species, we conducted a laboratory experiment to assess its competitive ability with two common tire-inhabiting species, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae). Larvae were reared under a factorial design with each species alone and in combination (Cx. coronator + Ae. albopictus, Cx. coronator + Cx. quinquefasciatus) across three different resource environments (leaf detritus only, animal detritus only, animal + leaf). Mosquito performance (survival, adult male and female mass, and development time) was measured for each species across treatments. Female Cx. coronator developed slowest when grown with Ae. albopictus, or when grown with leaves only regardless of species combinations; similar patterns emerged for males although species effects were restricted to mass. Few differences were evident in performance for male and female Cx. coronator across detritus environments when grown with Cx. quinquefasciatus. Cx. quinquefasciatus did not vary in mass or development time in the presence of Cx. coronator compared with when grown alone. Ae. albopictus female mass was 15% lower in the presence of Cx. coronator. Survival of Cx. coronator was highest in animal and leaf detritus containers, although survival was generally lower when larvae were grown with Ae. albopictus. These findings suggest that the performance of Cx. coronator is similar to that of Cx. quinquefasciatus but it suffers in the presence of Ae. albopictus under some resource environments.

How Diverse Detrital Environments Influence Nutrient Stoichiometry between Males and Females of the Co-Occurring Container Mosquitoes Aedes albopictus, Ae. aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus

“…albopictus have shown that some Culex , including C . coronator [ 41 ] and C . quinquefasciatus [ 32 ] to be the inferior competitor under some detrital environments.…”

Arbovirus Vectors of Epidemiological Concern in the Americas: A Scoping Review of Entomological Studies on Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya Virus Vectors

“…Noden et al [63], Yee and Skiff [64], Riback et al [65] examined interspecific and intraspecific competition on population dynamics. Noden et al [63] found inter- and intraspecific competition to affect hatch-to-adult survivorship and development time to adulthood in Ae.…”

“…albopictus , and Riback et al [65] made similar observations. Yee and Skiff [64] found Ae. albopictus female mass to be negatively affected by the presence of Cx.…”

Spatial and temporal variations on the coexistence of Aedes and Culex larvae in Southern Thailand

“…triseriatus (Ho et al 1989;Novak et al 1993), Cx. coronator (Yee and Skiff, 2014), and Cx. pipiens (Carrieri et al 2003(Carrieri et al , 2011Costanzo et al 2005;Muturi et al 2011).…”