Structure of communities and indicating species of culicides (Diptera: Nematocera) in environments with different degrees of environmental impact

Abstract

Culicidae are hematophagous insects called mosquitoes. They are vectors responsible for transmitting various pathogens to animals and humans. The females of these Diptera oviposit in containers introduced by humans in the natural environment. These water recipients are transformed into new breeding sites. Thus, the objective of this research is to describe the diversity of Culicidae species in the city of Ribeirão Claro, Paraná, found in artificial breeding grounds located in environments with different levels of anthropic impact. Traps were installed in four parts of the city with urban, peri-urban, rural and wild characteristics respectively and at each point three artificial containers were distributed to serve as breeding sites. The capture of the larvae in these containers was carried out biweekly, with the sampling period being developed from February to September 2018. The communities metrics were: species richness, total and relative abundance, diversity, equitability, dominance and similarity. Indicator species presence for each evaluated environment was also analyzed. A total of 472 immature Culicidae were collected, distributed among Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762), Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894), Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823, Culex coronator Dyar & Knab, 1906, Toxorhynchites sp., Anopheles argyritarsis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1827, Aedes fluviatilis (Lutz, 1904) e Uranotaenia sp. The greatest abundance occurred in the periurban area and the species Aedes aegypti had the highest occurrence. The bioindicators were Aedes aegypti for the periurban environment, Aedes albopictus for the rural area and Toxorhynchites sp. to the wild environment. The greatest richness and diversity were observed in the wild environment showing that changes in these sites may favor the presence of insects of public health importance.