In the mid 1980’s the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus was introduced in the USA and Brazil. The invasion of Ae. albopictus in the United States has been well documented. Ae. albopictus displaced Ae. aegypti and became the most abundant mosquito in artificial containers in most regions of the South East of the United States. In contrast to the USA, there are no reports for Brazil on relationships between the introduced Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, the primary vector of endemic dengue. During the rainy season of 2001, we surveyed the incidence of the two species in different habitats in two municipalities of Rio de Janeiro State, Nova Iguaçu and Rio de Janeiro city, where dengue transmission occurs. Ovitraps were set in 5 habitats (2 traps per house, 10 houses per habitat) differing in their level of urbanization. Larvae and eggs were collected each week for 3 weeks.
In both municipalities Ae. aegypti was predominated in urban habitats and favelas, but was rare in rural habitats. The converse was true for Ae. albopictus The two species co-occurred most frequently in suburban habitats. In the forest of Nova Iguaçu Ae. albopictus was predominated in numbers more than in the forest within Rio de Janeiro city.
The spatial segregation of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus may influence dengue transmission in Brazil.
Species 1: Diptera Culicidae Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito)
Species 2: Diptera Culicidae Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito)
Keywords: spatial distribution, habitat segregation
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA