Mosquito Biodiversity of Northeastern India

Abstract

Northeastern India is a hotspot of biodiversity and there is enormous diversity in the insect fauna recorded from the region. This includes haematophagous or blood sucking insects such as mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies and tabanids. Mosquitoes are important from the public health point of view since they are the vectors of human diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, filariasis and Japanese encephalitis. Proper identification and recording of the vector species is of utmost importance as it helps in understanding the habitats and bionomics of the target species. The oriental region, which includes India, is regarded as one of the richest biogeographic regions for mosquitoes of the world. The chapter focuses on the diversity of mosquitoes in the northeastern region of India. The chapter is not intended to serve as a checklist of the entire mosquito species recorded but attempts to give only an overview of the mosquito diversity. Such a description would help in understanding and appreciating the tremendous insect biodiversity in the region through mosquitoes, which are arguably the most economically important insects. The information on the prevalence, density, diversity and distribution of mosquitoes in the region assumes great significance in the context of management of mosquito borne diseases.