Diversity of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) collected in different types of larvitraps in an Amazon rural settlement

Abstract

Anthropogenic environments provide favorable conditions for some species, which are especially suitable for mosquitoes that present eclecticism at the moment of choice for the site of oviposition. The present study, the diversity of mosquitoes in plastic container, bamboo internode, and tire placed in forest, the forest edge, and peridomicile environments in a rural settlement area was assessed. Eighteen sampling points were chosen, delimited by a buffer 200 m, placed in environments: forest, forest edge, and peridomicile. In each environment, larvitraps were installed, separated by a minimum distance of 7 m and 1 m from the ground. A total of 10,131 immature mosquitoes of 20 species were collected. The most abundant species was Culex urichii (29.5%), followed by Trichoprosopom digitatum (27.1%), and Cx. (Melanoconion) sp. (10,4%). There was a difference in the composition of immature mosquito populations between larvitraps (p<0.0005), and the plastic container hosted a greater diversity of species, whereas tires presented a greater abundance of individuals. The forest, forest edge, and peridomicile environments were also significantly different with regard to diversity of immature mosquito populations (p<0.0010). The forest edge was the environment with the greatest diversity of species, followed by the peridomicile and forest environments. In the forest and peridomicile, plastic container larvitraps had the greatest diversity, whereas the forest edge tire presented the largest number of individuals. Further, tire larvitraps collected the largest number of individuals in all environments. We identified 10 species associated with the bamboo internode and tire. We also observed the preference of species for artificial larvitraps, such as the plastic container and tire, even in wild environments. These artificial objects may represent a risk factor for the population living in this region, as all vector species found in the study were present in plastic containers and tires.