Seasonal Trends of Anopheles culicifacies Population and Its Sibling Species Status at Gomadiyagala-A Village in the North -western Province of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Anopheles culicifacies s.s and An. subpictus were the most predominant species found in this study area and accounted for 31.2% and 41.4% respectively of the total mosquitoes collected from the cattle - baited hut collections during the 3- yr period. The relative adult densities of An. culicifacies s.s recorded during cooler and rainy conditions were significantly higher than those recorded during hot periods (p < 0.013) indicating a tendency to increase the vector density during the cool, rainy seasons. Screening of 364 mosquitoes collected from four sampling methods namely cattle - baited hut collection (CBHC), human baited night collections (HBNC), larval collections (LC) and hand collections (HC) using Rp2l7 and Rp234 DNA probes showed the absence cf sibling species A.