Comparative association of species of Culicinae (Diptera) at various altitudes in Republic of Korea

Abstract

Korean peninsula and south western region (Jeju Island) are heavily covered with natural vegetation and represented by mountains, valleys and streams. This study aims to detect mosquito species from subfamily Culicinae and their breeding places at altitudes 26 to 1345 m. The larvae and adult samples were collected during six months period from June to November 2009 by using plastic pipette and BG Sentinal. 6 genera and 13 species have been recorded from 210 spots in eight major sites. These include Aedes represented by five species [A. albopictus (Skuse), A. galloisi Yamada, A. japonicus (Theobald), A. koreicus Edwards, and an unidentified form] followed by genus Culex represented by six species (C. sasai Kano, C. pipiens f., C. vagans Wiedemann., C. halifaxii Theobald and two unidentified forms) and genus Ochlerotatus represented by two species [O. hatorii(Taylor) and O. togoi (Theobald)]. While, three genera Armigeres, Tripteroides andManisonia each represented by one species [A. subalbatus (Coquillett), T. bambusa(Yamada), M. uniformis (Theobald) respectively]. Our study also revealed 40 different types of breeding places, some of them from nature such as water catchment areas formed as a result of rain, overflow of streams, rock pools, partly dried streams, tree holes and tops of stones as the most potential breeding places, and other formed as a result of human involvement (artificial) such as flowering pots, sewerage lines, disposal areas, pickle pots, construction material, plastic sheets used to cover the equipments, bottles, stone pots, red buckets and flowering stone pots as the most favorable breeding sites. Key words: Climate change, Aedes mosquitoes, Korea, altitude, dengue, culicinae.