Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, lO(2):236-239,1994 Copyright @ 1994 by the American Mosquito Control Associalion, Inc.
A LARVAL MOSQUITO SURVEY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS INCLUDING A NEW RECORD FOR AEDES ALBOPICTUS
D. H. JAMIESON, L. A. OLSON INO J. D. WILHIDE
Department of Biology, Arkawas State University, P. O. Box 599, State University,AR 72467
ABSTRACT. An extensivelarval mosquito surveywas conducted in CraigheadCounty in northeastern Arkansasin 1990-9l.Nineteenspeciesrepresenting8generawerecollected.Culexrestuanswasthemost cosmopolitan speciesin relation to habitat utilization, being collectedin 5 of7 habitat types sampled.A major range extension of Aedestaeniorhynchus in Arkansas was documented as well as the first known collection of Aedesalbopictus in the northeasternpart ofthe state.
There has been little recently published work quito speciesrepresenting 8 generawere collect- regarding mosquito speciesoccurring in north- ed betweenMarch 3, 1990and October29, I 99 l, easternArkansas. Carpenter (1941) reported42 during the study period. Culex restuans Theo- speciesstatewide but did not provide a detailed bald was found in the widest variety of larval descriptionof their known rangeswithin the state. production sites, being collected in 5 of the 7 Survey work by Brandenburgand Murrill(1947) habitat types (Table l). and Lancasteret aL.(197 4t) collectively revealed Aedes vexans (Meigen) was the most com- the presenceof only 6 mosquito speciesin Craig- monly collected speciesin the woodland pool head County in northeastern Arkansas. Meisch habitat, being found in 55oloofthe pools sampled. et al. (1982)reported finding 5 speciesin a larval This speciesoverwinters in the egg stageand is study of Arkansas rice fields that included the one of the first to appear in light traps in the northeasternpart ofthe state. spring(Holman 1989'). Siverly (1972)reported The primary intent of this study was to more that there may be continual production of this precisely determine both the speciescomposi- speciesin Indiana if rainfall is plentiful. It ap- tion and the location of mosquito breeding sites pears to behave similarly in northeastern Ar- in CraigheadCounty. It is anticipated that mos- kansas.Aedes canadensis (Theobald) was anoth- quito control personnel, particularly in north- er common inhabitant of woodland pools. eastern Arkansas, will find this information to However, it was collected only in the spring and be of considerablevalue. thus appearsto be univoltine in this region. CraigheadCounty, locatedin northeasternAr- Marsh habitats were distinguished from kansas (Fig. l), is nearly rectangular and is ap. ephemeral pools in pasturesby the presenceof proximately 73 km long and 20-30 km wide. herbaceoushydrophytes such as cattails (Typha According to Ferguson(1979), its total area, in- spp.) and sedges(Carex spp.). Two such areas cluding bodiesofwater, is about 186,000ha. It were sampled during this investigation. Culex is extensivelycultivated with rice, soybeans,cot- territans Walker and Culex salinarius Coq. were ton, and wheat being the most important crops- the only speciescollected and both were found Mosquito larval samples were taken from a only on one occasion. variety of habitats including woodland pools, Roadsideditches are consideredto be a major roadside ditches, marshes,ephemeral pools, rice mosquito production site in northeastern Ar- fields,artificial containers,and tree holesin order kansas. Although frequently flooded, there are to provide as complete a specieslist as possible. periods when ditches are dry, or nearly so, al- A total of 102 separatecollection siteswere sam- lowing for oviposition by floodwater speciessuch pled. A Clarke larval dipper (Clarke Mosquito as Ae. vexans and Psorophora columbiae (Dyar Control Products,Inc., Roselle,IL 60172) l0 cm and Knab). Although Ps.columbiae larvae were in diam and 5 cm deep (ca. 350 ml) with an particularly abundant in one roadside ditch in extendable handle was used to collect larvae at this study, Horsfall (1942) reported that in Ar- most sites. All speciesidentifications were de- kansas County (another major rice-producing termined from larval specimens.Nineteen mos-
2 Holman, R. E. 1989. A light trap survey of the I Lancaster,J. L., G. Barnesand J. E. Roberts. I 974. female adult mosquitoesof CraigheadCounty, Arkan- Mosquito control. Unpublished report. Arkansas Ag- sas in 1986 and 1987. M.Sc. thesis.Arkansas State ricultural Extension Service.Favetteville. University, State University. 236 Jtnn 1994 OpeRArror.rAL,q,NoScrerqtrnc Norrs 231
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Anophelesquadrimaculafr,rs (the malaria mos- lishment of an Aedes albopictus (Skuse) popu- quito) was the most commonly encounteredspe- lation in Memphis, TN (Moore et al. 1990),was cies in the rice-field habitat. In Arkansas, zln. ofmajor concernto JonesboroMosquito Control quadrimaculatas numbers usually peak in rice- personnelbecause ofthe relatively short distance growing regions in August when the fields are (90 km) betweenthe 2 cities. However, this spe- being continually flooded (Meisch et al. 1982). cies was not collected during the most intensive It is at this time that the most favorable condi- sampling period of this study (March-Octobet tions (stagnantwater with floating and emergent 1990),even though all major tire yardsin Jones- vegetation) exist for An. quadrimaculatus pro- boro were sampledperiodically during this entire duction. Larvae ofthis specieswere collected in time. The first known collection of,4e. albopictus 7 lo/oof lhe August rice-fleld samples.According larvae was in June 199I when severalspecimens to Holman (1989' ),peak numbers of adult fe- were found in rain gutters at a Jonesboro resi- maleAn. quadrimaculalzs occurredin light traps dence. Later that same month, personnel asso- in Craighead County during July and August. ciatedwith the JonesboroMosquito Control Pro- This species typically is present in such high gram found numerous Ae. albopictuslarvae at a numbers in Craighead County that Jonesboro small tire yard in the city. Currently, these are Mosquito Control personnel (unpublished data) the only known production sites for le. albopic- consider it to be the most important pest species /as in northeastern Arkansas. Voucher speci- in late summer. Psorophoracolumbiae (the dark mens of le. albopictuslarvae are housed in the rice-field mosquito) was most abundant in July, insect museum of the Department of Biological and was collectedin 620loof fields sampledduring Sciences,at Arkansas State University. that month. This speciesalso receives consid- Aedestriserialzs (Say)was the most commonly erableattention by JonesboroMosquito Control encounteredtree-hole mosquito, being collected personnel, particularly in June and July. Culex in 960/oof the tree holes sampled. This species erraticus(Dyar and Knab) and Uranotaeniasap- overwintersin the eggstage attached to the cavity phirina (Osten Sacken),although not importanl wall of the tree hole (Siverly 1972). Toxorhyn' pests, were abundant in rice fields from July chites rutilus (Coq.) and Orthopodomyia signdera through September. (Coq.) also were found to be common tree-hole The primary type of artificial container sam- inhabitants, although the 2 specieswere not en- pled in this study was discardedautomobile tires. countered until June and July, respectively.Cz- Most tires sampled were located in residential lex restuanslarvaewere collected from a tree hole neighborhoodsor at commercial tire companies. during April and May 1990 in associationwith However, some were encounteredin wooded ar- Ae. triseriatus.This specieswas absentfrom tree eas.At least one representativeof the genusCr.r- holes for the remainder of the study period. Al- lexwas encounteredat every artificial container though Shields(1938) reported finding Cx. res- site, with Cx. restuans and Culex pipiens Lirn. tuans in tree holes, a search of several major being the most frequently collected species.Ac- literature sourcesincluding Carpenter (1941), cording to Moore et al. (1990),an 8-city survey Carpenteret al. ( I 946), and Siverly ( I 972), found of container-inhabiting mosquitoes that includ- no mention of Cx. restuan^soccurring in this hab- ed Memphis, TN, and Kansas City, MO, found itat. The appearanceofthis speciesin tree holes Cx. pipiens to be the most cosmopolitan species. apparently is rather unusual. In this study, peak Cx. pipiens numbers in tires The findings ofthis northeasternArkansas in- were recorded in late summer. The only an- vestigation indicate the presenceof at least 19 opheline speciescollected in artificial containers mosquito species.This representsmore than 3 wasAn. quadrimaculatus.It was encounteredin times the number (6) reported by Brandenburg tires in late summer (Septemberand October) on and Murrill (1947) and Lancasteret al. (19'74t). 2 occasions.Several authorities including Car- Of the 8 Culex speciesreported by Carpenterand penter (1941), Carpenteret al. (1946), Siverly LaCasse(1955) and Darsieand Ward (198l) as (1972),atdLancasteretal. (1974r) did notreport occurring in Arkansas, 6 are now known to be the occurrenceof An. quadrimaculalrzsin artifi- found specificallyin CraigheadCounty. cial containers.Moore et al. (1990)reported an- We would like to acknowledgethe assistance opheline immatures from automobile tires but of personnelfrom the JonesboroMosquito Con- did not identify the species.It is speculatedthat trol Program during the sampling period. the presenceofthis speciesin artificial containers only during late summer may have resultedfrom a combination of peak adult population num- REFERENCESCITED bers, a lack ofpreferred oviposition sites due to Brandenburg,J. F. and R. D. Murrill. 1947. Occur- below-normal precipitation, and the preharvest renceand distributionof mosquitoesin Arkansas. draining of rice fields. The documented estab- ArkansasHealth Bull. 4:zl--6. JUNE1994 OpeRArroNAL lNp ScrpNrrrrc Nores
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