Page 18 - Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2014

Lytra & Emmanouel

16

and Curtin, 1965; Harbach, 1985; Samanidou

and Harbach, 2003; Becker

et al

., 2010).

Culex tritaeniorhynchus

was permanent-

ly present

in large numbers in the samples,

ranging from 125 to 198 individuals per

sampling (adults derived after the immature

rearing).

Culex tritaeniorhynchus

is recorded

for the first time

in Aitoloakarnania, Western

Greece. Although there is a severe nuisance

from mosquitoes in this area, available data

for the mosquito species that breed in these

rice fields are lucking and no relevant con-

trol programs have been conducted for de-

cades.

These findings are important because

Cx. tritaeniorhynchus

is a potential vector of

pathogens that cause human diseases. It is

the primary vector of Japanese encephali-

tis (JE) in southern Asia and has also been

found infected with Dengue, Rift Valley fe-

ver, Sindbis, Getah and Tembusu viruses,

and microfilariae of both

Brugia malayi

and

Wuchereria bancrofti

, in many areas of east-

ern and southeastern Asia (Lacey and Lacey,

1990). The females of

Cx. tritaeniorhynchus

feed primarily on domestic animals such as

cattle and pigs, but will bite man in their ab-

sence (Bram, 1967). They mainly bite out-

doors between sunset and midnight, but

may enter in cattle sheds and dwellings and

Figure 1.

Areas where

Culex tritaeniorhynchus

has been recorded in Greece: Marathon, Prefecture of Attica in 2003 (first re-

port); Delta of Acheloos River, Prefecture of Aitoloakarnania from 2008 to 2013.