Biodiversity and Temporal Distribution of Immature Culicidae in the Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.

Cecília Ferreira de Mello,Raquel M. Gleiser,Shannon L. LaDeau,Nicolau Maués Serra-Freire,Hélcio R. Gil-Santana,Anthony Érico Guimarães,Jeronimo Alencar

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159240

Abstract

To increase the knowledge of biodiversity and identify larval habitats used by immature mosquitoes in the Atlantic Forest, we conducted a study in areas with various stages of preservation within the Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve in Cachoeiras de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro state. The Culicidae fauna were sampled during February, April, June, August, October, and December 2012; February, March, April, May, June, August, October, and December 2013; and January and March 2014. Immature mosquitoes were collected with dippers and suction tubes (mouth aspirators). Over the sampling period, 2697 larvae of 56 species were collected, some of which are recognized vectors of human diseases. The larval mosquito community found in artificial habitats, temporary ground water, and phytotelmata differed between sites, except for the mosquito fauna in bromeliads, which were almost 80% similar. Species segregation was more evident between larval habitats than between sites. Culex usquatus was the dominant species and colonized the highest number of larval habitats. The artificial larval habitats found in REGUA were colonized by a great diversity of species and high abundance as well, thus human artifacts left by the public in the area that collect water may promote an increase in mosquito populations. Among the species collected, some are known or suspected vectors of pathogens to humans and/or veterinary relevance, and their medical relevance is discussed.

Highlights

Recent estimates suggest that there are 3 to 6 million arthropod species on Earth [1,2,3] (Thomas, 1990; Ødegaard, 2000; Hamilton et al 2010), while no more than 30% of tropicalPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159240 July 12, 2016Culicidae Biodiversity and Temporal Distribution insects have been described to date [4] (Godfray et al 1999)
56 mosquito species were identified, a similar value to richness estimates from the same area based on adult mosquito collections (Alencar et al 2015) [15] and from other Atlantic Forest sites (e.g. Guimarães et al 1989) [31]
Within a similar time frame (February 2012—January 2014), 42% of the species had been collected at REGUA as adults (Alencar et al 2015) [15], Limatus paraensis was detected from ovitraps (Alencar et al 2016), 33 species were collected as larvae but not as adults, and a further 24 species were not found as larvae in the current study, bringing the total number of species to 82 S1 Appendix

Summary

Introduction

Recent estimates suggest that there are 3 to 6 million arthropod species on Earth [1,2,3] (Thomas, 1990; Ødegaard, 2000; Hamilton et al 2010), while no more than 30% of tropicalPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159240 July 12, 2016Culicidae Biodiversity and Temporal Distribution insects have been described to date [4] (Godfray et al 1999). There is an urgent need to increase wildlife inventories, including surveys of insect fauna, in countries like Brazil, which are mainly tropical and have high biodiversity. Such countries are currently facing alarming habitat destruction, with species becoming extinct before they can be discovered or described by scientists [6] (Rapini et al 2006). Between 1990 and 2010, based on high resolution satellite imagery, it was estimated that South and Central America and the Caribbean lost 56.9 million ha of its forest area (Achard et al 2014)

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