title: Biting activity of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Turkey-Armenia border area, Ararat Valley, Turkey.
abstract: During nine consecutive nights in July 2007 (from 18:15-05:45 h), mosquitoes landing-biting on humans were collected outdoors and indoors at the Turkey-Armenia border. A total of 1005 females were collected consisting of nine species. The dominant species was Aedes dorsalis (Meigen) (47.5% of total catch), followed by Anopheles hyrcanus (Pallas) (22.9%), Culex theileri (Theobald) (9.3%),Ae. vexans (Meigen) (6.6%), Ae. caspius (Pallas) (4.9%),Anopheles maculipennis s.l. (Meigen) (3.1%), Culex territans (Walker) (2.8%), Coquillettidia richiardii (Ficalbi) (1.6%), and Cx. pipiens L. (1.5%). The biting rate outdoors (15.1 mosquitoes/human/h) was greater than indoors (3.4 mosquitoes/human/h). The landing-biting of Ae. dorsalis peaked at dusk (19:15-19:45 h) and dawn (04:15-04:45 h). Ae. vexans activity increased soon after dark (20:15-20:45 h) and reached a peak at dawn (04:15-04:45 h). Maximum biting activity of An. hyrcanus and Cx. theileri occurred during the first sampling interval after dusk (20:15-20:45 h). A large number of An. maculipennis s.l. adults were collected during the second half of the night. We believe that these findings will contribute to decisions on the timing of mosquito control in Ararat Valley.
authors.affiliation: Kafkas University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of Biology, 36100-Kars, Turkey. aaldemir25@gmail.com
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aldemir
authors.forename: Hilal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bedir
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Demirci
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Alten
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000472:pathogenicity; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001136:Armenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003465:Culex / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009033:Culicidae / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000662:veterinary; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology