Culicidofauna em duas áreas endêmicas para Dirofilaria immitis (Leidy, 1856) em Alagoas, Brasil

Abstract

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are distributed worldwide with approximately 3,565 species, and due to hematophagous habits of females, some species of culicids are responsible for the transmission of pathogens of medical-veterinary and public health importance, such as Dirofilaria. immitis. Studies about these arthropods in Alagoas are still scarce, which highlights the need for knowledge about the fauna of these insects. Therefore, the research aimed to evaluate the frequency of different mosquito species in two endemic areas for Dirofilaria immitis in Alagoas, in the cities of Maceió and Jequiá da Praia. The sampling was performed in places where there were positive dogs D. immitis; in Jequiá da Praia - AL between May 2018 and April 2019, and in Maceió - AL, between July 2018 and June 2019; both monthly, for three consecutive nights, between 17h and 5h, using six CDC light traps. The samples were sent to the entomology sector of the Central Laboratory of Alagoas for identification. A total of 7,382 specimens were collected, in which 46.08% (3402/7382) were females of the species: Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) aquasalis (Curry, 1932), Coquillettidia (Rhynchotaenia) nigricans (Coquillett, 1904), Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus (Say, 1823), Culex (Melanoconion) spissipes (Theobald, 1903), Culex (Melanoconion) sp., Mansonia (Mansonia) pseudotitillans (Theobald, 1901), Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) scapularis (Rondani, 1848), Ochlerotatus (Culicelsa) taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann, 1821), Stegomyia (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762), Uranotaenia (Uranotaenia) lowii (Theobald, 1901) and Culex (Phenacomyia) corniger (Theobald, 1903), In this study, Cx. Corniger was first recorded in the state of Alagoas. It was observed a strong relationship between Culex quinquefasciatus population with rainfall (cross correlation = 0.87) and relative humidity (cross correlation = 0.88), which is the most abundant species in the study. The results suggest that Cx. quinquefasciatus may be a potential vector for Dirofilaria immitis in the study área.