Abstract
Blood feeding nature of mosquitoes associated with livestock field stations are crucial in understanding the vectorborne disease dynamics. We investigated the species composition, abundance and blood feeding pattern of mosquitoes at a livestock field station in Uda Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Monthly samplings were done from six animal units (cattle, swine, duck, sheep, rabbit, and goat) from December 2016 to July 2017 using hand held aspirators, UV light traps and CDC miniature light traps. Blood sources of the mosquitoes were confirmed by PCR assays. Majority of the mosquitoes (82.3 %) were belonged to the Genus Culex followed by Armigeres (7.31%), Aedes (6.70%) and Anopheles (3.65%). Culex fuscocephala (26.82%) was the most abundant species while Aedes albopictus (0.30%) and Anopheles aitkenii (0.30%) were the least. The highest mosquito abundance was reported from cattle unit (86.9%) followed by swine (12.2%) and duck (0.91 %) units. The highest mosquito abundance and diversity were reported in December (35.97%). No association were reported between climatic variables and mosquito abundance (p>0.05). Mixed blood meals were not reported and mosquitoes of cattle and swine units were identified with 100% cattle and swine blood, respectively. The generalized feeding pattern of the identified mosquitoes suggests the potential vector status of infectious diseases.
Highlights
Blood feeding nature of mosquitoes is shaped by many biological and ecological factors (Takken and Verhulst, 2013)
Animal domestication and livestock farming have given ample opportunities for these mosquitoes to go for a number of host species to obtain successful blood meals and increasing their foraging efficiency (Santos and Borges, 2015)
Aedes albopictus and Anopheles aitkenii were the least abundant mosquito species (Table 2).The highest mosquito abundance was recorded from the cattle unit (86.89%; n = 285) followed by the swine unit (12.19%; n = 40) and duck unit (0.91%; n = 3)
Summary
Blood feeding nature of mosquitoes is shaped by many biological and ecological factors (Takken and Verhulst, 2013). Several Culex species have shown an opportunistic generalized feeding pattern by taking blood meals from a wide variety of avian and mammalian hosts (Tempelis and Washino, 1967; Tempelis et al, 1976; Garcia-Rejon et al, 2010) and acted as bridge vectors of many mosquito borne diseases including West Nile virus, Filariasis, Japanese encephalitis (Thiemann et al, 2011; Bhattacharya et al, 2016). Increased risk of introducing new pathogens to human populations through mosquito species with generalized feeding patterns has become a crucial factor in controlling zoonotic diseases. Animal domestication and livestock farming have given ample opportunities for these mosquitoes to go for a number of host species to obtain successful blood meals and increasing their foraging efficiency (Santos and Borges, 2015). Different domestic animals live in the same environment provide a dynamic environment for diverse mosquito species that contributes to inter and intra species transmission of pathogens
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