Parks and plazas (green areas or vegetation islands) within urban areas can provide conditions for the development of populations of mosquitoes, many species of which are very adaptable to a variety of environments. The species of mosquitoes in the family Culicidae with animal hosts, in a vegetation island within an urban area, in Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil was investigated. To examine whether these green areas contribute to urban populations, mosquitoes were collected five times each season (spring, summer and fall), from September 2000 to July 2001. CDC-M traps were set at two heights (1.5 m and 6 m). A mammal (quinea pig, Cavia porcellus Linnaeus, 1758, Rodentia, Cavidae) and bird (Nothura maculosa (Temminck, 1815), Tinamiformes, Tinamidae) were used as bait. Traps were active from 16:00 to 20:00 h, with samples taken every 30 minutes. A total of 1,415 individual mosquitoes were collected, in 9 genera and 11 species, with 44% of the individuals taken in Spring samples, 40% in Summer and 16% in Fall samples. The 1.5 m traps with mammal bait captured the most mosquitoes (41%), with the 6m trap with bird bait being second (30%), followed by 1.5 m and bird bait (19%) and 6m and mammal bait (10%). Mansonia (Mansonia) fonsecai (Pinto, 1932) and Mansonia (Mansonia) pessoai (Barreto e Coutinho, 1944) was the most common species found with both baits. Other species captured were: Mansonia (Mansonia) wilsoni (Barreto & Coutinho, 1944); Mansonia (Mansonia) titillans (Walker, 1848); Culex (Culex) acharistus Root, 1927; Culex (Culex) sp.; Wyomyia (Phoniomyia) quasilongirostris Theobald, 1907; Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) scapularis (Rondani, 1848); Psorophora (Janthinosoma) ferox (Humboldt, 1819); Culex (Melanoconion) sp.; Coquillettidia (Rhynchotaenia) venezuelensis (Theobald, 1912); Aedeomyia (Aedeomyia) squamipennis (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1878); Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) serratus (Theobald, 1901); Limatus durhami Theobald, 1901 and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse, 1894). This last species has a great epidemiological importance. This study shows that green areas (vegetation islands) within urban centers can be an important source of potentially epidemiological mosquitoes.
Animal bait; CDC trap; Culicidae; ecology; Mansonia
