Prevalence of parasitism and adult survival time of Aedes albifasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) parasitized by Strelkovimermis spiculatus (Nematoda: Mermithidae)

CRISTIAN DI BATTISTA; SYLVIA FISCHER; RAÚL ERNESTO CAMPOS

JOURNAL OF VECTOR ECOLOGY

SOC VECTOR ECOLOGY

Lugar: Idaho, EEUU; Año: 2015 vol. 40 p. 393 - 397

1081-1710

This studydescribes the carryover of Strelkovimermis spiculatus (Poinar and Camino)(Nematoda: Mermithidae), from mosquito larvae to adults, which primary site ofmaturation is believed to be larvae. We analyzed the survival time of males andfemales of Aedes albifasciatus (Macquart) (Diptera: Culicidae) parasitized byS. spiculatus, the time of emergence of nematodes from adult mosquitoes, andthe parasitism state of the same mosquito cohort during the immature stages. Mosquitolarvae with single and multiple parasitisms (up to 11 parasites) were observed.The mortality of mosquito larvae and adults was produced in all cases where atleast one mermithid emerged. The mortality of S. spiculatus showed anincreasing trend in mosquito larvae with larger numbers of nematodes, and washigher in larvae parasitized by eight or more nematodes. Maximum survival ofparasitized adult females of Ae. albifasciatus was 38 days, whilenon-parasitized adult males and females survived 39 and 41 days, respectively. Strelkovimermisspiculatus mortality was observed in larvae of Ae. albifasciatus with single ormultiple parasitism. Parasitism in the adult mosquito populations maycontribute to the spreading of S. spiculatus in the following ways: if themosquito does not move from the pond where it emerged, the nematode emergenceincreases the local mermithid population or if the parasitized mosquitoes move,they could contribute to the spreading of S. spiculatus by introducingmermithids to water bodies where the parasite was not present before, orfacilitate genetic drift to water bodies with a previously existing S.spiculatus.