Preferência por local de oviposição de Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera, Culicidae), em relação à presença de imaturos da própria espécie, sob condições de laboratório Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera, Culicidae), preference for oviposition site related with homospecific immatures presence, under laboratory conditions

<abstract language="eng">Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse, 1894) is an exotic Culicidae species in Brazil. Since its first report in this country, the mosquito has been increasing its geographic distribution. This mosquito is a natural dengue and Japanese Encephalitis virus vector in Asia. The females preference for oviposition sites related with homospecific immature presence was assessed. The experiment was performed with Aedes albopictus from laboratory colony since March ]999, in the Laboratório de Entomologia Médica e Veterinária, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná. The preferred container was the one that kept pupae for 24 hours, with 643 eggs, 30,6% at total. The eggs recipients received 11,45% from total set by the females, and the following numbers to the others: larva 1 (15,79%), larva 2 (14,69%), pupa 1 (20,74%), pupa 2 (30,58%), control (6,75%). Although the ANOVA did not detect significant difference among the treatments, the data possibly indicate that Aedes albopictus prefer laying eggs in containers previously colonized by immature

<title language="por">COLONIZATION AND LABORATORY MAINTENANCE OFAnopheles albimanus WIEDEMANN IN VENEZUELA

Anopheles albimanus is one of the main vectors of malaria in Central America and the Caribbean, based on its importance, there are previous reports of the successful colonization of this species in Latin America countries. Mosquitoes were collected in the Aragua State of Venezuela colonized in the laboratory, using a simple and efficient maintenance method. Based on life table calculations under well established laboratory conditions, the Survival Rate Probability was constant and always close to 1 in immature stages, the Reproductive Net Rate (Ro) was 3.83, the generation time (Tc) was 24.5 days and the Intrinsic Growth Rate (rm) was 0.0558. This is the first report of the colonization of A. albimanus in Venezuela.<br>Colonização e manutenção no laboratório de Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann na Venezuela Anopheles albimanus é dos principais vetores da malária na América Central e Caribe, sendo a primeira vez que conseguimos sua colonização na Venezuela. Os mosquitos foram capturados no Estado Aragua e colonizados no laboratório através de um método simples e eficiente. Estimaramse parâmetros populacionais usando tabelas de vida em condições laboratoriais bem controladas, observandose probabilidade de sobrevivência constante próxima a 1 para os estadios imaturos. O potencial reprodutivo está representado por uma taxa reprodutiva (Ro) de 3,83, período entre gerações de 24,5 dias e uma taxa intrínseca de crescimento (rm) de 0,05

Development of a novel sticky trap for container-breeding mosquitoes and evaluation of its sampling properties to monitor urban populations of Aedes albopictus

Collection methods currently used for large-scale sampling of adult Stegomyia mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) present several operational limitations, which constitute major drawbacks to the epidemiological surveillance of arboviruses, the evaluation of the impact of control strategies, and the surveillance of the spreading of allochthonous species into non-endemic regions. Here, we describe a new sticky trap designed to capture adult container-breeding mosquitoes and to monitor their population dynamics. We tested the sampling properties of the sticky trap in Rome, Italy, where Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus is common. The results of our observations, and the comparison between sticky trap catches and catches made with the standard oviposition trap, are presented. The sticky trap collected significantly larger numbers of Ae. albopictus females than any other Culicidae species representing > 90% of the total catches. A maximum of 83 An. albopictus females was collected in a single week. A high correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.96) was found between the number of females and the number of eggs collected by the traps. The functional relationship between the number of eggs and the number of adult females was assessed by major axis regression fitted to log(1 + x)-transformed trap counts as y = 0.065 + 1.695x. Trap samples significantly departed from a random distribution; Taylor's power law was fitted to the trap samples to quantify the degree of aggregation in the catches, returning the equations s(2) = 2.401 m(1.325) for the sticky trap and s(2) = 13.068 m(1.441) for the ovitrap, with s(2) and m denoting the weekly catch variance and mean, respectively, indicating that eggs were significantly more aggregated than mosquitoes (P < 0.0001). Taylor's power law parameters were used to estimate the minimum number of sample units necessary to obtain sample estimates with a fixed degree of precision and sensitivity. For the range of densities encountered in our study area during the Ae. albopictus breeding season, the sticky trap was more precise and sensitive than the ovitrap. At low population densities (c. < 0.1 mosquito/trap), however, the ovitrap was more sensitive at detecting the presence of this species. Overall, our results indicate that our new model of sticky trap can be used to sample Ae. albopictus females in urban environments, and, possibly, other container-breeding Stegomyia mosquitoes (e.g. Aedes aegypti). The technical properties of the new trap are discussed with respect to its possible application in monitoring the population dynamics of container-breeding mosquitoes, in studying their bionomics, and in vector surveillance and, possibly, control