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The breeding places vertical distribution of Anopheles (Kerteszia) spp. in South Brazil

Analising data about the Bromeliaceae vertical distribution where breed Anopheles of the subgenus Kerteszia, the A. drew the following conclusions: 1 - The influence of luminosity, in the Bromeliaceae distribution, and that the humidity, concerning the ones which breed Kerteszia, despite to be conspicuous, are not so schematicat as reported in Trinidad (W.I.F.); 2 - The preference heights of the three Kerteszia species vary in accordance with the conditions of humidity prevailing in the woods, but in the biggest part of the distribution area of these mosquitoes A. bellator is one species of higher levels, A. homunculus prefers the lower Bromeliaceae and A. cruzii thrives in ever level, though being, more common in the preferencial heights of the two other species; 3 - As shown previously by PITTENDRIGH (1950a) in Trinidad, the density of each species is in the dependence of the amplitude of the heights which they can search into, and then of the number of available breeding places. So, despite the A. cruzii predominance near the total, A. bellator is abundant in the sea shoresm where may breed on the ground level and A. homunculus might be the most numerous species in some lowlands of movement facies, where their breeding places are found inthe tree branchings; 4 - The distributions of Bromeliaceae frequency in general, and of those which are breeding places of Kerteszia, show differences statistically significant; 5 - As a matter of fact A. cruzii has two preferencial levels for breeding and the vertical distribution is significantly different from the one of the Bromeliaceae in the same woods, then, it suggests that instead of a single species, A. cruzii is composed by two different ones, morphologically so similar that cannot be distinguished by the routine methods of identification.


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