Night human biting mosquitoes during the northeast monsoon in Batticaloa (dry zone) of Sri Lanka

Abstract

We report for the first time species of mosquitoes from the east coast (dry zone) of Sri Lanka. The study was done in an urban and a rural site during the monsoonal period of October 1993 to January 1994- There was a difference in the species diversity between the two locations. Culex quinquefasciatus Say was the most prevalent species in the rural site and Culex fuscocephala Theobald and Cx. quinquefasciatus were the most prevalent in the urban site. Culex sitiens Weidmann and Mansonia species were found in the two locations. Even though the incidence of Malaria was high in the district we did not find a high number of Anophelenes. Anopheles nigerrimus Giles, Anopheles subpictus Grassi and Anopheles jamesii Theobald were found in the urban site but anophelines were not collected in the rural site. Aedes species were collected in the rural site. The collections made indoors were higher than those made outdoors. The incidence, of mosquitoes was higher in December for the pooled data but the peak occurrence differed from species to species. There was a bimodal pattern of biting behaviour in the twelve hour period of data collection. Peak collections were made during 22.00 to 24.00 hours and 02.00-04.00 hours.