Bromeliad-inhabiting mosquitoes in an urban botanical garden of dengue endemic Rio de Janeiro - Are bromeliads productive habitats for the invasive vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus ?

摘要

Immatures of both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have been found in water-holding bromeliad axils inBrazil. Removal of these plants or their treatment with insecticides in public and private gardens have been undertakenduring dengue outbreaks in Brazil despite uncertainty as to their importance as productive habitats for denguevectors. From March 2005-February 2006, we sampled 120 randomly selected bromeliads belonging to 10 speciesin a public garden less than 200 m from houses in a dengue-endemic neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. A total of2,816 mosquito larvae and pupae was collected, with an average of 5.87 immatures per plant per collection. Culex(Microculex) pleuristriatus and Culex spp of the Ocellatus Group were the most abundant culicid species, found inall species of bromeliads; next in relative abundance were species of the genus Wyeomyia . Only two individuals ofAe. aegypti (0.07%) and five of Ae. albopictus (0.18%) were collected from bromeliads. By contrast, immatures ofAe. aegypti were found in manmade containers in nearly 5% of nearby houses. These results demonstrate that bromeliadsare not important producers of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus and, hence, should not be a focus for denguecontrol. However, the results of this study of only one year in a single area may not represent outcomes in otherurban localities where bromeliads, Ae. aegypti and dengue coincide in more disturbed habitats.