title: Blood meal sources of mosquitoes captured in municipal parks in São Paulo, Brazil.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate blood meal sources of mosquitoes captured in municipal parks in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, and to identify possible associations between mosquito species and their food preferences. Fourteen species of blood hosts of 510 engorged adult female mosquitoes were identified using PCR assays with a vertebrate-specific primer set based on cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA of the following vertebrates: birds, dogs, cats, rodents, humans, and other primates. Mosquitoes were captured using a manual aspirator, CDC traps in the canopy, CDC traps at ground level, and Shannon traps. With the exception of cats, all other vertebrates were used as hosts by mosquitoes in the parks. Statistical analysis failed to show any trend toward association between most culicid species captured and the sources of blood meals. Instead, they revealed random patterns, indicating that the mosquitoes fed on the most abundant or convenient blood meal sources. Although feeding preferences were observed in two species (birds in the case of Cx. nigripalpus and dogs in the case of Cx. quinquefasciatus), our results highlight the opportunistic feeding habits of the female mosquitoes in this study.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gabriela Cristina
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Rosely dos Santos
authors.initials: Rdos S
authors.lastname: Malafronte
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miti Izumisawa
authors.forename: Renildo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Souza Teixeira
authors.forename: Licia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Natal
authors.forename: Mauro Toledo
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Marrelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002415:Cats; D009033:Culicidae / Q000502:physiology*; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats
keywords: Blood meals; Culicidae; PCR; cytochrome b oxidase; epidemiology; hosts