Diversity and abundance of mosquitoes in different larval habitats of Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Mosquitoes are important vectors of diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya etc. A study was conducted to document mosquito diversity in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. Mosquito larvae were collected from different habitats using standard dipping method during the study period from January, 2017 to December, 2019. A total of 3784 mosquito larvae belonging to 27 species and 6 genera were recorded viz., Aedes, Anopheles, Armegeres, Culex, Toxorhynchites and Uranotaenia. The genera Culex was the most dominant with 1731 individuals followed by Anopheles. Among all the species recorded, Cx. quinquefasciatus was found to be the most predominant with 12.26% relative abundance followed by Cx. Tritaeniorhynchus 11.65%. Paddy fields had highest individuals (679) inhabiting in them, followed by Swamps and Ponds with 492 and 451 individuals respectively. The Shannon diversity reveals highest species diversity in swamps with H value 2.611, consisting of 16 different species and lowest species diversity in streams with H value of 1.143 having only 5 species. The Berger-Parker index is seen highest in drainage water habitats (0.4531) and lowest in swamps (0.1382) indicating abundance of the most dominant species i.e. Cx. quinquefasciatus is the dominant species and is found highest in drainage water (226) and least in swamps (36).