Diversity, Abundance, Density and Habitat Characterization of Mosquitoes in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Mosquito diversity, abundance, density, and habitats were studied at four selected breeding areas in Dhaka city from December 2015 to April 2016. A total of 3214 individuals of 10 mosquito species belonging to 3 genera namlely Culex (7spp.), Aedes (2spp.), and Anopheles (1sp.) were documented during the study period. The Cx. quinquefasciatus (37.83%) was found the highest in number followed by Cx. vishnui (16.74%), Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (16.21%), Cx. gelidus (9.40%), Cx. hutchinsoni (9.12%), Cx. fuscocephala (2.77%), Cx. vagans (2.21%), Ae. aegypti (3.17%), An. annularis (2.77%), and Ae. albopictus (1.15%). Maximum number of mosquitoes were found in Hazaribagh (1178 individuals), followed by Badda (1128 individuals), Demra (594 individuals), and Sutrapur (314 individuals). Mosquitoes were plentiful in March, regardless of species distribution which was influenced by rainfall and the lowest was in February. Eighteen different habitats of the mosquitoes were identified. The Simpson’s Index (λ= 0.18) and Shanon’s Diversity Index (H′= 1.93) indicated maximum mosquito diversity at Demra thana where species richness was 3.24. However, the Sutrapur thana (λ= 0.34, H′ =1.34) was minimum in which species richness had 2.40. The Species Evenness in the Demra thana (J′= 0.84) indicated that the species were evenly distributed whereas the Sutrapur thana (J′= 0.69) was comparatively less evenly distributed. The highest Community Dominance was 76.11% for the Sutrapur and the lowest was 49.66% for the Demra. Sorenson's Coefficient (CC) was 0.76 indicating that there was considerable overlap or similarity across the four communities. Bangladesh J. Zool. 50(3): 337-352, 2022