Bionomics studies of Mansonia mosquitoes inhabiting the peat swamp forest

Abstract

The present study was conducted in the years 2000-2002 to determine the bionomics of Mansonia mosquitoes, vectors of nocturnally subperiodic Brugia malayi, inhabiting the peat swamp forest, "Phru Toh Daeng", Narathiwat Province, Thailand. Fifty-four species of mosquitoes belonging to 12 genera were added, for the first time, to the list of animal fauna in the peat swamp forest. Mansonia mosquitoes were the most abundant (60-70%) by all collection methods and occurred throughout the year with a high biting density (10.5-57.8 bites per person-hour). Ma. bonneae was most prevalent (47.5%) and fed on a variety of animal hosts, including domestic cats, cows, monkeys, and man with a maximum biting density of 24.3 bites per person-hour in October. The infective bites were found for the first time in Ma. annulata collected at Ban Toh Daeng (13 00-14 00 hours) and also Ma. bonneae at forest shade (16 00-17 00 hours) and in a village (20 00-21 00 hours) with rates of 0.6, 1.1 and 1.0%, respectively. The biting activities of these two species occurred in both the day and night time, with two lower peaks at 10 00 hours (18.5 bites per person-hour) and 13 00-15 00 (8.5-10.0 bites per person-hour) hours, but the highest peak was 19 00-21 00 hours (31.5-33.0 bites per person-hour) The biting activity patterns corresponded with the periodicity found in man and domestic cats and may play an important role in either transmission or maintenance of the filarial parasites in the peat swamp forest. The relative role of Ma. bonneae and Ma. uniformis in different environmental settings (primary swamp forest and open swamp) on the transmission of nocturnally subperiodic B. malayi merits further study.