Larval Mosquitoes in Abandoned Tire Pile Sites from West Virginia
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 2O(l):12-17,2OO4 Copyright @ 2004 by the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc. LARVAL MOSQUITOES IN ABANDONED TIRE PILE SITES FROM WEST VIRGINIA JAMES E. JOY Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755 ABSTRACT. Larvae of l3 mosquito species were collected from abandoned tire piles at peridomestic and nonperidomestic sites in 3 south-central West Virginia counties from May through September 2OO2. Ochlerotatus triseriatus was the most frequently collected species from May through August, whereas Aedes albopictus and Ochlerotatus japonicus were more prevalent in September. Prevalence of Oc. triseriatus and Culex restuans declined throughout the study period. Conversely, prevalences ofAe. alhopictus, Oc. japonicus, Culex territans, and Toxorhynchites rutilus increased during the same period. Ochlerotatus atropalpus was significantly more likely to be encountered at nonperidomestic sites. None of the other species exhibited a significant predisposition for either peridomestic or nonperidomestic sites. KEY WORDS Arboviruses, Ochlerotatus triseriatus, Ochlerotatus japonicus, Aedes albopictus, invasive spe- cies INTRODUCTION on native forms, the confluence of Ae. albopictus, Oc. japonicus, and Oc. triseriatus in West Virginia Nasci et al. (2000) acknowledged that the influ- at this time highlights the desirability of continued ence of habitat on the transmission cycle of the La surveillance activity on these 3 species. Crosse encephalitis virus (LAC) was not fully un- Nicholas County was once considered the en- derstood. Work by those investigators in Nicholas demic focus for LAC, but Fayette and Raleigh County, West Virginia, in 1996 indicated that La counties, located immediately to the south of Nich- Crosse encephalitis cases and the presence of LAC olas County, are now experiencing comparable in Ochlerotatus triseriatus (Say) were associated numbers of cases annually (West Virginia Depart- with a variety of habitat types, leading to the con- ment of Health and Human Resources, unpublished clusion that the dynamics of enzootic LAC trans- data 2OO2). Joy et al. (2003) reported on monthly mission by this vector species were very complex. surveillance results of tire-breeding species in Ultimately, those investigators found no clear set of Nicholas County based on collections made in habitat parameters that could be used as predictors 2001, but as a result of the more recent LAC re- for the presence or absence of LAC in a particular porting data in Fayette and Raleigh counties, the area of Nicholas County. focus of the present surveillance work has been ex- Two Asian mosquito species have been intro- tended geographically to those latter counties. duced into West Virginia since that 1996 study by Nasci et al. (2000): Aedes albopiaus (Skuse) in 1998, and Ochlerotatus japonicus (Theobald) in MATERIALS AND METHODS 2O02. Introductions of these exotic species may have made the dynamics of LAC transmission even Study area: Nicholas, Fayette, and Raleigh more complex for 2 reasons. First, the Asian spe- counties, with a combined population of 153,000, cies may compete wrtl:. Oc. triseriatus for space and are located in south-central West Virginia approx- fbod resources, thus altering-i11 sn[nsr67n ways- imately between latitudes 37'30' and 38'30'N and population structure of the native LAC vector. The longitudes 80'30' and 8l'30'W. introduction of Oc. japonicas is too recent to have Site characteriz.ation and collection procedure: produced any relevant data on this subject, but Ae. A total of 112 abandoned tire pile sites were iden- albopictus is thought by some workers (Ho et al. tified in the 3-county target area from May through 1989, Livdahl and Willey 1991, Edgerly et al. September 2OO2. Each of those sites was placed 1993) to be capable of competing effectively with into I of 2 categories (peridomestic or nonperi- Oc. triseriatus and perhaps even displacing over the domestic) based on the proximity of the tire habitat long-term. Second, with the isolation of LAC from to human hosts. Fifty-seven peridomestic sites had naturally infected Ae. albopictus in Tennessee, Ger- tires located in areas where humans were readily hardt et al. (2001) established thar the Asian tiger available to mosquitoes. These sites were business- mosquito may serve as an accessory LAC vector. es that offered automobile tire replacement services The possibility that Oc. japonicu.s might become and were located within 100 m of homes, motor- involved in LAC transmission as well cannot be cycle or go-cart race tracks, and convenience ruled out. stores. Additionally, 55 nonperidomestic sites (i.e., So, from the standpoint of both a public health sites >100 m distant from areas of human activity) perspective and an investigation of competitive were examined. These sites were generally along pressures that introduced species may bring to bear rural roads where illegal dumping occurred. Tire- LARVAL MosQUIToEs Fnou Wrsr VIRGINIA 13 Table 1. Frequencies (percent of visits positive) of larval mosquito species colonizing waste tire piles in south- centraf West Viiginia (e.g., larval Aedes aTbopictls were collected from 123, ot36.6Vo, of the 336 total site visits). Number of visits is given in parentheses. NonPeri- Total Peridomestic domestic Species (336) (167) (l6e) X'(l df) Aedes aLbopictzs (Skuse) 36.6 32.9 40.2 r.628 Anophe le s barb eri (Coquillett) 1.2 0 L.+ Ano phe le s puncti pe nni s (S ay) 3.9 2.4 5.3 r.231 Anophele s quadrimaculatus Say 1.5 1.2 1.8 Culex pipiens Linnaeus 6.O 6.6 5-3 0.163 Cuiex restuans Theobald +J.Z 46.1 40.2 0.953 Culex territans Walker 27.1 30.5 z-). I 1.675 Ochle rotatus at ropalpus (Coquillett) 17.0 71.4 z3- | 6-056r Ochlerotatus canadensis (Theobald) 5.4 4.8 5.9 o.o47 Ochle rotatus j aponicus (Theobald) 31.5 -J-). -t 27.8 1.864 Ochlerotatus trise riatus (SaY) 62.5 57.5 67.5 3.150 O nhopodomyia si gnife ra (Coquillett) z-+ 1.8 3-0 Toxo rhynchites rutilus septentrionalis (Coquillett) 19.6 19.8 19.5 o.007 'P < 0.05. inhabiting mosquitoes at nonperidomestic sites did to 112 tire dump sites in Fayette, Nicholas, and not have ready access to humans as a blood-meal Raleigh counties of West Virginia from May source. Many sites were visited on more than I through September 2OO2 (Table l). Overall fre- occasion, but no site was visited more than once in quency of occurrence was high (>5OVo of the site the same month. visits) for Oc. triseriatus; moderate (>2O-5OVo) for ja- Tires were sampled by repeatedly sweeping a Culex restuans (Theobald), Ae. albopictus, Oc. (>5- handheld strainer with a mesh size of approximate- ponicus, and Culex territans (Walker); low ly 1.0 mm through the water and leafy substrate. 2OVo) for Toxorhynchites rutilus (Coqtillet)' Och- Larvae collected in the strainer were removed with lerotatus atropalpus (Coquillet), Culex pipiens L-, jeweler's forceps and placed in 30-ml bottles, ap- and Ochlerotatus canadensis (Theobald); and rare propriately labeled with a site number and date of (<57o) for Anopheles punctipennrs (say), Ortho- collection, containing 957o ethanoL Larvae were podomy ia si gnife ra (Coquillet), Anophele s quadri- identified with the aid of a Zeiss stereomicroscope maculatus Say, and Anopheles barberi (Coquillet). at 60X. If identification was questionable, larvae were dehydrated to 99Eo ethanol, cleared in xylene, Larval presence bY site category and mounted in Permount@ (Fisher Scientiflc, Pitts- burgh, PA) for examination under a compound mi- Larval colonization frequency patterns by site croscope at greater magnification. Keys by Means category varied according to species, with 5 species (1979), Darsie and Ward (1981), and Darsie (1986) more often found at peridomestic sites, and 8 at were consulted for larval identifications. In addi- nonperidomestic sites. However, no species was tion, Oc. japonicus was identified from the key significantly more likely to be encountered at per- made available by Rutgers University (2003). idomestic sites, and only a single species, Oc. atro- Data analysis.' A chi-square 2 x 2 table was palpus, was significantly more likely to be ob- used to test for statistical significance for larval served at nonperidomestic tire habitats (Table 1). species at peridomestic vs. nonperidomestic sites, whereas the chi-square test of equality of propor- presence by month of collection tions (SAS Institute 1989) was employed to eval- Larval uate temporal distribution for each of the 7 most Ochlerotatus triseriatus was the most frequently commonly encountered species. Levels of proba- collected species from May through August (Table bility are given in the narrative or tables as appro- 2). Both Ae. albopict r.t and Oc. japonicus were priate. more frequently collected than Oc. triseriatus in September, but only the higher prevalence of 65-7Vo RESULTS for Ae. albopictus (vs. 4O.OVofor Oc. triseriatus) was significant (X' : 8.284; I df; P < 0.05). General findings Prevalence (i.e., percent of visits positive in Ta- Thirteen species of mosquito larvae were iden- ble 2) of 2 species, Oc. triseriatu,t and C.r. restuans, tified in 336 visits (167 and 169 visits to peri- gradually declined throughout the study period, domestic and nonperidomestic sites, respectively) whereas the reverse was true for Ae. albopictus, Oc. l4 JounNer- oF THE AMERrcal Mosquno CoNrnoL Assocraltorl VoL. 20, No. I Table 2- Larval distribution, by month of collection, for the 7 species in tire pile habitats where valid chr-square tests can be made. The negative (Neg.) and positive (Pos.) visiis for each species total to the number of visits (shown in parentheses) for each month (total collections, all months : 336). The null hypothesis is that the proportion positives of is the same for each month for any given species. The null hypotheiis is rejected for every "Wrt* "-..pt Orhl"r"r*", "r, Oc.