An unusual ground larval habitat of Aedes albopictus

Aedes albopictus; Culex

BRIEF COMMUNICATION AN UNUSUAL GROUND LARVAL HABITAT OF Aedes albopictus

Oswaldo Paulo FORATTINI (¹), Gisela Rita Alvarenga Monteiro MARQUES (²), Marylene de BRITO (²) & Maria Anice Mureb SALLUM (¹).

KEYWORDS - Aedes albopictus; Culex.

As far as it is known Aedes albopictus is a container breeder mosquito. Both natural and artificial receptacles are utilized by that mosquito as larval habitat. Nevertheless ESTRADA-FRANCO & CRAIG (1995) mentioned ground pools when they recorded natural breeding places. In some way, rock holes may be considered similar to the last one, even though they differ from each other in organic matter concentration of the water collected. In fact, in many occasions rock holes were indicated to be larval habitat (ROZEBOOM & BRIDGES, 1972; McCLELLAND et al., 1973; HAWLEY, 1988; PEÑA, 1993; O'MEARA et al., 1997). Among the unusual recorded artificial habitats for that mosquito, shallow accumulations of water on cement floors up to 20 storeys above the ground in Malaysia and underground storm drains in Italy can be mentioned (Nathan & Knudsen, 1994; BLACKMORE, 1995).

During a pilot survey about mosquito fauna in the Paraiba Valley in southeastern Brazil, breeding places of Aedes albopictus were searched. Beside several containers, a ground larval habitat was found inside a residual forest patch in Pindamonhangaba city. It was a ground cavity remaining at the root place of a Piptadenia ("angico branco") fall tree. So, a ground hole was produced, and filled with about seventeen liters of rain water (Fig. 1). In August 1997 64 larvae of the following species were collected:

Aedes albopictus 24

Culex declarator 11

Cx. quinquefasciatus 24

Culex (Cux.) gr. Coronator 5

Fig. 1. Ground hole containing rain water where Ae. albopictus larvae were collected.

That type of larval habitat may be compared to a hollow log where the mosquito was already found (ROZEBOOM & BRIDGES, 1972). Furthermore, the presence of Culex declarator and Culex Coronator group together with Ae. albopictus suggest strongly eclecticism on the part of these mosquito larvae.

Although no epidemiological data are available to consider Aedes albopictus as a dengue vector in Brazil, its potential role cannot be denied. Laboratory studies show that this species is susceptible to and can transmit several arboviruses of public health importance (MITCHELL, 1991). Aedes albopictus has ability to colonize man-made containers and its evolution shows great capacity to survive in anthropic environment conditions. Perhaps it is possible that this evolution in a closer association with man, at some extension may become it a ground breeder mosquito too.

RESUMO

Nota sobre criadouro de Aedes albopictus no solo

Relata-se o encontro de criadouro de Aedes albopictus no solo. Tratou-se de buraco resultante da queda de árvore Piptadenia ("angico branco") onde foram coletadas larvas daquele mosquito, juntamente com representantes de Culex declarator, Cx. quinquefasciatus e Culex (Cux.) sp. do Grupo Coronator. O criadouro comportou cerca de 17 litros de água proveniente de chuvas locais. O achado deu-se em mata residual dentro de perímetro urbano da cidade de Pindamo-nhangaba no Vale do Paraíba, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Discute-se o significado do encontro como provável indicador de ecletismo comportamental e de adaptação do culicídeo ao ambiente antrópico.

Correspondence to: Prof. Oswaldo Paulo Forattini. Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Epidemiologia. Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, 01246-904 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. FAX: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail]

Recebido para publicação em 05/02/1998

Aceito para publicação em 12/03/1998

Supported by Grant 95/0381-4 "Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo" (FAPESP).

• 1. BLACKMORE, M.S. - Aedes albopictus in Italy. Amer. Mosq. contr. Ass. Newslett, 21(1): 9, 1995.
• 2. ESTRADA-FRANCO, J.G. & CRAIG Jr., G.B. - Biology, disease relationships, and control of Aedes albopictus Washington, Pan American Health Organization, 1988. (Tech. Paper no. 42).
• 3. HAWLEY, W.A. - The biology of Aedes albopictus. J. Amer. Mosq. contr. Ass., (suppl. 1): 1-40, 1988.
• 4. McCLELLAND, G.A.H.; HARTBERG, W.K. & COURTOIS, C.M. - Aedes mascarensis MacGregor on Mauritius. I. Ecology in relation to Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae). J. med. Entomol., 10: 570-577, 1973.
• 5. MITCHELL, C.J. - Vector competence of North and South American strains of Aedes albopictus for certain arboviruses. J. Amer. Mosq. contr. Ass., 7: 446-451, 1991.
• 6. NATHAN, M. & KNUDSEN, B. - Global update on Aedes albopictus. Amer. Mosq. contr. Ass. Newslett., 20(2): 8-9, 1994.
• 7. O'MEARA, G.G.; EVANS, L.F. & WOMACK, M.L. - Colonization of rock holes by Aedes albopictus in the southeastern United States. J. Amer. Mosq. contr. Ass., 13: 270-274, 1997.
• 8. PEŃA, C.J. - First report of Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) from the Dominican Republic. Vector Ecol. Newslett., 24(4): 4-5, 1993.
• 9. ROZEBOOM, L.E. & BRIDGES, J.R. - Relative population densities of Aedes albopictus and A. guamensis on Guam. Bull. Wld. Hlth. Org., 46: 477-483, 1972.

(1) Departamento de Epidemiologia, Núcleo de Pesquisa Taxonômica e Sistemática em Entomologia Médica (NUPTEM), Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, 01246-904 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Bolsa de Produtividade em Pesquisa Proc. 3000225/95-4)

) Departamento de Epidemiologia, Núcleo de Pesquisa Taxonômica e Sistemática em Entomologia Médica (NUPTEM), Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, 01246-904 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Bolsa de Produtividade em Pesquisa Proc. 3000225/95-4)

(2) Superintendência de Controle de Endemias (SUCEN), Av. 9 de Julho 372, 11020-200 Taubaté, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Nov 1998
• Date of issue
  Mar 1998

History

• Received
  05 Feb 1998
• Accepted
  12 Mar 1998