Nocturnal Mosquitoes of Pará State in the Brazilian Amazon: Species Composition, Habitat Segregation, and Seasonal Variation

Abstract

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are one of the most important disease vector species in the world. Many species have a high degree of anthropophilia and are often found in human habitations. In the present study, we have inventoried the nocturnal mosquito assemblage in intra-, peri-, and extradomicile environments in four municipalities in Pará, Brazil. At each municipality, a residence was selected and the mosquitoes were sampled using the protected human attraction capture and Shannon trap methods in April (rainy season) and August 2018 (dry season). We have collected a total of 696 mosquito specimens belonging to 8 genera and 17 species. The most abundant species were Mansonia (Mansonoides) titillans (Walker) (366/696, 52.6%), Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) albitarsis Lynch-Arribálzaga (97/696, 13.9%), and Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus Say (93/696, 13.4%). Mosquito richness, abundance, and composition did not differ between intra-, peri-, and extradomicile environments suggesting limited habitat segregation among the different species. However, mosquito species richness and mosquito species abundance were significantly higher during the rainy season than during the dry season, suggesting increased mosquito activity during the rainy season. We detected several important vector species of human diseases including Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus), Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi Root, Haemagogus (Conopostegus) leucocelaenus (Dyar and Shannon), Coquillettidia (Coquillettidia) venezuelensis (Theobald), and Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus which are the main transmitters of dengue, malaria, yellow fever, mayaro, and oropouche fever, respectively. As inventories of disease-carrying mosquitoes in the region are very scarce, mainly in residential environments, our results suggest high potential for mosquito-borne disease transmission in Pará State.

Seasonality and Biting Behavior ofMansonia(Diptera, Culicidae) in Rural Settlements Near Porto Velho, State of Rondônia, Brazil

“…Entomological inventories conducted in the Amazon basin have already recorded the six species of Mansonia that are in the present study ( Ferreira 1999 , 2003 ; Hutchings et al 2008 , 2020 ). The greater diversity and abundance of the genus Mansonia has been reported in the areas close to white-water lakes or muddy rivers ( Ferreira 1999 , Araújo et al 2020 ), as compared to dark water rivers, such as the Negro River ( Hutchings et al 2005 , 2013 , 2016 ). The Madeira River, characterized as a white-water river, is the largest tributary of the Amazon River basin, which is characterized by a high load of suspended sediments, alone being responsible for approximately 50% of the total suspended load transported along the Amazon River to the Atlantic Ocean ( Latrubesse et al 2005 , Barbosa et al 2007 ).…”

“…This was also observed in the populations of Ma. titillans in the State of Pará ( Araújo et al 2020 ). In addition, our data highlights the abundance of Mansonia spp.…”

Oviposition activity of Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Diptera: Culicidae) during the rainy and dry seasons, in areas with yellow fever virus circulation in the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…leucocelaenus during the rainy season in a study in the state of Rio de Janeiro carried out in the Ecological Reserve of Guapiaçu. In a study in the Amazon, [ 39 ] found higher abundance and richness of mosquitoes in the rainy season compared to the dry season, with Hg . leucocelaenus only present during the rainy season.…”

Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) diversity along a rainy season and edge effects in a riparian forest in Southeastern Brazil

“…Studies of mosquito fauna in these ecosystems are in general limited to sampling in a single month within the rainy season (e.g. Araújo et al 2020; Rêgo et al, 2020; Santos et al, 2015). We strongly suggest that this unique mosquito sampling should occur only a few weeks after a large amount of rain is recorded.…”