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1 May 2011 Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Bloodmeal Sources during a Period of West Nile Virus Transmission in Puerto Rico
Roberto Barrera, Manuel Amador, Ginger Young, Nicholas Komar
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Abstract

Host bloodmeals of indigenous Caribbean mosquitoes have not been studied previously. We identified vertebrate DNA in 90 blood-engorged mosquitoes belonging to four genera (Aedes, Culex, Deinocerites, and Uranotaenia) and 12 species that were collected in Puerto Rico within a geographic and temporal focus of West Nile virus transmission in 2007. It was found that 62 (68.8%) bloodmeals were from reptiles, 18 (20.0%) from birds, and 10 (11.1%) from mammals. Only one bloodmeal of 18 derived from Culex (Culex) species was passerine, suggesting a preference for nonpasserine birds and other vertebrates (i.e., reptiles) among the candidate WNV vectors. We interpret the results with respect to vectorial capacity for West Nile virus, an emerging arbovirus throughout the Caribbean Basin.

Roberto Barrera, Manuel Amador, Ginger Young, and Nicholas Komar "Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Bloodmeal Sources during a Period of West Nile Virus Transmission in Puerto Rico," Journal of Medical Entomology 48(3), 701-704, (1 May 2011). https://doi.org/10.1603/ME10281
Received: 28 December 2010; Accepted: 1 February 2011; Published: 1 May 2011
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KEYWORDS
arbovirus vector
ecology
mosquito
reservoir host
West Nile virus
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