Susceptibility of various mosquitoes of Thailand to nocturnal subperiodic Wuchereria bancrofti

Abstract

Ten different mosquito species representing five genera were allowed to feed on human blood containing microfilariae (5.5-6.5 mf/μl) of nocturnal subperiodic Wuchereria bancrofti from Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes desmotes, Downsiomyia species (=Finlaya Niveus Group), Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles dirus A, An. maculatus, An. minimus, Armigeres subalbatus, and Mansonia uniformis were fed under laboratory conditions using an artificial membrane feeding procedure. All species had adequate feeding responses (68-87.3%) and survival (66.4-81.3%) 12-15 days post-feeding. Anopheles maculatus was the most susceptible (73.1%) for development of infective third-stage larvae (L3), followed by An. minimus (61.0%), Downsiomyia species (27.3%), Ae. desmotes (24.2%), An. dirus A (24.7%), Cx. quinquefasciatus (19.2%), Ma. uniformis (9.2%), and Ae. albopictus (0.01%). Aedes aegypti and Ar. subalbatus were found to be completely refractory. An. maculatus produced the greatest mean number of L3 per infective mosquito (5.6 L3) and Ae. albopictus the least (1 L3). The two Anopheles demonstrated significantly greater susceptibility (P < 0.05%) to W. bancrofti than the two Aedes species regarded as natural vectors.