© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
1
Directorate of Plant Produce Protection, Ministry of
Rural Development and Food, 150 Syggrou Avenue,
GR-176 71 Kallithea, Attica, Greece
2
Laboratory of Pesticide Science, Agricultural Univer-
sity of Athens, 75 Iera Odos Str., GR-118 55 Athens,
Greece
3
Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Department
of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, BenakiPhy-
topathological Institute, Greece, 8 St. Delta Str., GR-
145 61 Kifissia, Attica, Greece
4
Directorate of Public Health, Prefecture of Korinthos,
GR-201 00 Korinthos, Greece
5
Entomology and Tropical Diseases Laboratory, Na-
tional School of Public Health, Greece
6
Laboratory of Biological Control of Pesticides, Benaki
Phytopathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Str., GR-145 61
Kifissia, Attica, Greece
* Corresponding author:
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
7
:
31-34, 2014
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) fauna in natural breeding sites
of Attica basin, Greece
I. Kioulos
1,2*
, A. Michaelakis
3
, N. Kioulos
4
, A. Samanidou-Voyadjoglou
5
and
G. Koliopoulos
6
Summary
:
Mosquito larvae from natural breeding sites within Attica basin were collected in 15-days
intervals from March 2007 to December 2008. The two – year study revealed eight different mosqui-
to species which belong to three different genera:
Anopheles maculipennis
complex
, Anopheles clavi-
ger, Culex pipiens, Culex hortensis, Culex theileri, Culex territans, Culex impudicus
and
Culiseta longiareola-
ta
. Three additional species were caught as adults (
Ochlerotatus zammitii
,
Aedes cretinus
and
Aedes al-
bopictus
).
Culex pipiens
and
Culiseta longiareolata
were found in almost all the breeding sites sampled.
Potential threats for public health from the above mentioned species are
An. maculipennis
,
Cx. pipiens
,
and
Ae. albopicuts
.
Additional keywords
: Attica, Greece, larvae, mosquito
The first annotated list of Greek mosqui-
to species by Samanidou-Voyadjoglou and
Darsie (1993) was based mainly on data from
the literature or specimens retrieved from
the National School of Public Health Muse-
um (Athens, Greece). The list contains seven
genera, 15 subgenera, 53 species and two
subspecies. Soon after, three more records
(
Aedes berlandi
,
Aedes annulipes
and
Culex
pusillus
) were added to the list (Samanidou-
Voyadjoglou & Darsie, 1993). Scattered refer-
ences basically based on newly discovered
species and confirmationby others followed.
Kaiser
et al
. (2001) presented 4 new country
records from northern Greece (
Ochlerotatus
sticticus
,
Oc
.
pullatus
,
Oc
.
punctor
and
Oc
.
cat-
aphylla
), whereas the presence of invasive
species of medical importance (
Culex
tritae-
niorhynchus
and
Aedes
albopictus
) was con-
firmed later (Samanidou & Harbach, 2003;
Samanidou-Voyadjoglou
et al.
, 2005).
The urban area of the Greek capital, Ath-
ens, extends beyond the administrative
municipal city limits into the basin of Atti-
ca with a population of 5 million habitats,
which is approximately half of the total pop-
ulation of the country (EL. STAT, 2012). The
current study aims at some qualitative data
regarding the mosquito fauna of Athens and
its surroundings after the Olympic Games of
2004, when substantial changes in the in-
frastructure resulted in changes at the geo-
graphical landscape and the associated mi-
cro climates of Attica (Tziralis
et al.
, 2005).
Natural breeding sites of mosquito lar-
vae in the basin of Attica were surveyed for
the presence of mosquito species, especial-
ly those of medical importance, from March
2007 to December 2008. The study area
