Mosquito fauna of a tropical museum and zoological garden complex

Abstract

The mosquito fauna of Museum and Zoological Garden Complex (JZC), a major tourist attraction inJos Metropolis of Nigeria, was studied The choice of the complex was out of public health curiosity. A total of 627 mosquitoes comprising 4 genera, Aedes, Culex, Coquilletidia and Eretmapodites, and9 species were caught n two dfferent study trips. Five species, namely, Aedes aegypti, A. africanus, A. vittatus, Culex quinquefasciatus and Eretmapodites chrysogaster, caught by human bait method are known variously to be involved in the transmission of yellow fever and other viral diseases. Culex quinquefasciatus had the highest frequency followed by Aedes aegypti. Simpson’s dominance and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices of 0.4942 and 0.4550 were respectvely recorded for the whole mosquitoes sampled by the human bait method. C. quinqefasciatus was the most frequent species with diversity values of 0.4444 (Simpson’s) and 0.1174 (Shannon-Wiener), followed by A. aegypti with 00455 (Simpson’s) and 0.1431 (Shannon-Wiener). Ecological statistics demonstrated a highly significant diference in diversity between samples in March, during the dryseason, and June in the rainy season (P < 0.001). The presence of man-biting mosquitoes in JZC constitutes apparent public health danger and calls for regular surveillance and control operations on such disease vectors in the complex.

Keywords: Mosquitoes, Zoo Complex, Public Health, Aedes, Culex, Eretmapodites, Coquilletidia