Determination of Fauna and Abundance of Larvae of the Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Paddy Fields in Lenjan and Mobarakeh Counties, Isfahan Province, Center of Iran Publisher



Kassiri H¹ ; Dehghani R² ; Khodkar I³ ; Moosakazemi SH⁴ ; Asgarian TS⁴ ; Golafshan AH² ; Maleki F² ; Kazemi G² Show Affiliations
Source: Journal of Entomological Research Published:2021

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the larval species of Culicidae mosquitoes and their abundance in spring and summer in the paddy fields of southwestern Isfahan Province. This descriptive-cross sectional study was performed during 3 sampling sessions in three regions of Lenjan and Mobarakeh Counties from June to August in the southwest of Isfahan Province. Sampling was conducted using a standard 350 ml capacity mosquito dipper. The collected mosquitoes (3rd and 4th larval instars) were preserved in lactophenol solution. Then, they transferred to the entomology laboratory with the relevant specifications and special codes. Each larva was individually mounted in liquid iodophor solution on a microscope slide and were identified (based on larval morphological characters) using a morphological identification key. During this study, a total of 430 larvae including 4 species belonging to the Culex and Anopheles species were collected from paddy fields. The results showed that 11.1% of identified larvae belonged to the subfamily Anophelinae and 88.9% to the subfamily Culicinae. The frequency of each species was 81.2% of C. theileri, 6.5% of C. perexiguus, 1.2% of C. pipiens and 11.1% of A. maculipennis, respectively. During June, July and August, 65.3%, 23.5% and 11.2% of larvae were caught, respectively. Study showed that C. theileri is more abundant than other species of Culicidae family in the paddy fields in the southwest of Isfahan Province. © 2021,Journal of Entomological Research.All Rights Reserved