title: Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from crepuscular period in an Atlantic Forest area in Southern Brazil.
abstract: Crepuscular period is one of the factors that may influence the biting activity of mosquitoes. Many of these insects have a peak activity in this period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the afternoon crepuscular activity of Culicidae in a remaining area of Atlantic Forest in western Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Moreover, the possible influence of abiotic factors, the abundance and species richness were verified. In order to better analyze the influence of crepuscular period in specific composition and abundance of mosquitoes, the dusk was divided into three periods: pre-sunset, sunset and post-sunset. At the end of the study, nine hundred and eight four specimens distributed in 12 genera and 23 species were collected. Trichoprosopon pallidiventer (Lutz, 1905) (59.76%), Aedes crinifer (Theobald, 1903) (8.13%), Ae. scapularis (Rondani, 1848) (5.89%) were the most abundant species. Spring time presented the greatest abundance and species richness. During the study, among the three periods evaluated, pre-sunset had the greatest abundance and post-sunset the lowest. Pre-sunset and sunset had the greatest similarity between species. Regarding to the abiotic factors evaluated seven and 15 days before sampling, they did not present significant correlation for the three most abundant species. However, temperature had a positive correlation to these species. Moreover, the correlation between collected species and its possible role as vectors of etiological agents of diseases was discussed.
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Joaçaba, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Orlandin
authors.affiliation: Centro Politécnico, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Centro Politécnico, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piovesan
authors.affiliation: Centro Politécnico, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Favretto
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Joaçaba, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Schneeberger
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Joaçaba, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: V O
authors.initials: VO
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha, Panambi, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação Biociências e Saúde, Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina, Joaçaba, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D009033:Culicidae / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D065928:Forests; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D012621:Seasons; D013997:Time Factors; D014329:Tropical Climate