VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES, SURVEILLANCE, PREVENTION Seasonal Distribution, Biology, and Human Attraction Patterns of Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in a Rural Village and Adjacent Forested Site Near Iquitos, Peru

This study was conducted as part of a Þeld-ecology study of arboviral and malarial activity in the Amazon Basin, Loreto Department, Peru, to determine the relative abundance, species diversity, and seasonal and vertical distributions of potential mosquito vectors. Mosquitoes were captured either by volunteers using mouth aspirators while mosquitoes attempted to land on the collectors or in dry iceÐbaited ABC light traps. Anopheles darlingi, the principal malaria vector in the region, was the most commonly captured anopheline mosquito in Puerto Almendra village (99%) while landing on humans, with a mean of 37.1 mosquitoes captured per 24-h period, representing nearly one half of all mosquitoes collected. An. darlingi human landing activity began shortly after sunset, peaked at 2000Ð2100 hours, and declined gradually until sunrise. This species readily entered houses, because 51% of the An. darlingi captured by paired collectors, stationed inside and outside houses, were captured indoors. Human landing collections provided a more accurate estimate of human attraction of An. darlingi, capturing 30 times as many as co-located dry iceÐbaited ABC light traps. In contrast, eight times as many Culex (Melanoconion) species, including known arbovirus vectors, were captured in light traps as by co-located human collectors. Despite being located within 300m of the village collection site, only a fewAnopheles species were captured at the forest collection site, includingonly0.1Andarlingi/24h, thus indicating thatAn.darlingiactivitywasdirectly associated with the rural village. These data provide a better understanding of the taxonomy, population density, and seasonal distribution of potential mosquito vectors of diseasewithin theAmazonBasin region and allow for the development of appropriate vector and disease prevention strategies that target vector populations.