CULICINE MOSQUITOES (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) COMMUNITIES AND THEIR RELATION TO PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THREE BREEDING SITES IN EGYPT

Mosquitoes have diverse species and global distribution. Most freshwater bodies support different mosquito species breeding. The physicochemical characteristics of mosquito breeding sites may influence culicine species distribution and their abundance. This study aimed to determine culicine species communities and their abundance in two rural sites and one urban breeding site in Egypt considering physicochemical characteristics of breeding places. These areas were Al-Beshlawy drainage canal (Giza), El-Khartoum irrigation ditch (Beheira), and Tanta man-made ground hole (Gharbia), respectively. The measured physicochemical parameters were temperature, pH, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and nitrite. Diversity indices (recorded number of species, diversity, equitability, and concentration of dominance) of mosquitoes were also calculated. The results showed that six culicine species were identified in the tested three breeding sites. These were Culex pipiens, Cx. univittatus, Cx. antennatus, Cx. quinqueifasciatus, Cx. perexiguus, and Culiseta longiareolata. All species are native to the Egyptian fauna. In all tested urban and rural breeding sites, Cx. pipiens was considered eudominant. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity in the culicine community between the tested sites ranged between 0.03 and 0.12. This dissimilarity may be attributed to the absence of certain species in some sites, as well as the significant difference in the abundance of Cx. pipiens and Cs. longiareolata among the sites. Water salinity and dissolved nitrite content differed significantly among the breeding sites. The multiple regression analysis between the identified culicine species and the physicochemical parameters showed that salinity, nitrite content, turbidity, and pH are considered key factors to predict some culicine species in water bodies.