Abstract
BackgroundWe investigated the ecological differentiation of two members of the Culex pipiens complex, Cx. p. pipiens form pipiens and Cx. p. pipiens form molestus in three sites, El-Kala, M'Sila and Tinerkouk in Algeria. These two forms are the most widespread mosquito vectors in temperate regions exhibiting important behavioural and physiological differences. Nevertheless, this group of potential vectors has been poorly studied, particularly in North Africa.MethodsTen larval populations of Cx. p. pipiens were sampled from various above- and underground habitats in three zones representing the three bioclimatic regions in Algeria. The reproduction characteristics were also investigated in the laboratory to define the rates of autogeny and stenogamy. Identification of Cx. p. pipiens members present in Algeria was achieved using a molecular analysis with the microsatellite CQ11 locus.ResultsWe detected larvae of Cx. p. pipiens in all areas suggesting that the species is a ubiquitous mosquito well adapted to various environments. To our knowledge, this study provides the first molecular evidence of the presence of the Cx. p. pipiens form molestus and hybrids (molestus/pipiens) in Algeria with a high proportion of molestus form (48.3 %) in comparison with hybrids (36.8 %) and pipiens form (14.9 %).ConclusionsSome unexpected correlations between the proportion of forms pipiens, molestus and hybrids, and mosquito biological characteristics were observed suggesting some epigenetic effects controlling Cx. p. pipiens mating and reproduction. Consequences for pathogen transmission are discussed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1725-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
We investigated the ecological differentiation of two members of the Culex pipiens complex, Cx. p. pipiens form pipiens and Cx. p. pipiens form molestus in three sites, El-Kala, M'Sila and Tinerkouk in Algeria
In North Africa, Cx. p. pipiens is a competent vector of several pathogens infecting animals and humans including West Nile virus (WNV) and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) [2,3,4,5]
Culex p. pipiens is sensitive to high levels of organic matter The chemical and physical properties of breeding sites were analysed as factors that could influence larval development (Additional file 3: Figure S1). pH, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen exhibited comparable values without any relation with larval densities (Table 1)
Summary
We investigated the ecological differentiation of two members of the Culex pipiens complex, Cx. p. pipiens form pipiens and Cx. p. pipiens form molestus in three sites, El-Kala, M'Sila and Tinerkouk in Algeria. Pipiens form molestus in three sites, El-Kala, M'Sila and Tinerkouk in Algeria. These two forms are the most widespread mosquito vectors in temperate regions exhibiting important behavioural and physiological differences. This group of potential vectors has been poorly studied, in North Africa. Culex pipiens pipiens is one of the most important mosquito species in terms of geographical distribution and ability to transmit pathogens [1]. In 1994, the virus appeared again causing an outbreak with a total of 50 human cases including eight deaths in Tinerkouk (Adrar Department, southeast Algeria) [11]. Other human cases were reported: in Morocco in 2003 [14] and in Tunisia between
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