Influence of climatic factors on the abundance of Culex pipiens and Cx. quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) adults in the Western Coast of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of weather factors, temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and wind velocity (WV) on the abundance of Cx. (Cux.) pipiens L. and Cx. (Cux.) quinquefasciatus Say, the two common and important mosquito species in the western coast of Saudi Arabia. The two species had the same ranges of T (15.00-30.00°C), RH (8.00-72.00%) and WV (0.10-8.06 Km/h). Cx. quinquefasciatus had insignificantly (P>0.05) lower means of the three factors than those of Cx. pipiens. Regression analysis indicated that abundance of Cx. pipiens and Cx. quinquefasciatus negatively related to T (regression coefficient, b=-0.06 and -0.01 for the two species, respectively) and WV (b=-0.40 and -0.16 for the two species, respectively) and positively related to RH (b=0.05 for both species). Such factors accounted for 81% and 76% of the variance in abundance of Cx. pipiens and Cx. quinquefasciatus, respectively while the remaining parts (19% and 24% for the two species, respectively) may be attributed to other factors mainly rainfall.