© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Kioulos
et al.
32
is defined by natural borders: four major
mounts (mount Imittos in the East, mount
Parnitha in the North, mount Penteli in the
North-east and mount Oros-Aegaleo in the
West) and the Saronikos Gulf in the South
(Figure 1).
The potential natural larval habitats were
mapped and eight representative sampling
sites were selected, also taking into account
accessibility standards of each site: Pikrodaf-
ni, Podoniftis, Kokkinos Mylos, Profitis Ilias,
Ivis, Maroussi, Chelidonou, Kato Kifissia (Fig-
ure 1). Sampling for mosquito larvae was
conducted with a 350 ml dipper once ev-
ery two weeks. Mosquito larvae were then
transferred to Benaki Phytopathological In-
stitute (Laboratory of Insecticides of Public
Health Importance, Athens-Greece) and to
the National School of Public Health (Labo-
ratory of Entomology and Tropical Diseases,
Athens-Greece), and were reared to adults
(T= 25±2
o
C, PH= 14:10 L:D). A few adult spe-
cimens were also caught (using mouth aspi-
rator) during larval sampling visits. All speci-
mens were identified to species in the adult
stage according to identification keys (Har-
bach, 1985; Glick, 1992; Darsie & Samani-
dou-Voyadjoglou, 1997; Samanidou-Voyad-
joglou & Harbach, 2001).
Larval surveys revealed 7,896 mosquito
specimens classified to eight different spe-
cies. During the entire study period, larvae
of
Cx. pipiens
and
Cs. longiareolata
were con-
stantly recorded in all sampling sites. Four
more
Culex
species (
Cx.hortensis
,
Cx. theileri
,
Cx. territans
, and
Cx.impudicus
) were found
sporadically in two different sampling sites
(Ivis and Profitis Ilias, Figure 1).
Culex terri-
tans
seems to appear late in the summer
and in early autumn (September 2007 and
August – October 2008, Table 1), whereas
Cx. hortensis
,
Cx. theileri
and
Cx. impudicus
occur during the summer months (June –
August, 2007 and 2008, Table 1).
Anopheles
Figure 1.
Geographical distribution of collection sites of mosquito species sampled as larvae from natural breeding sites
within the Attica basin from March 2007 to December 2008.
