Mosquito species composition at a selected area in eastern Tripoli, Libya

Abstract

Mosquito pose a serious health concern for they are potential vectors of some of the most important diseases to human and animal, including, malaria, filariasis, West Nile virus and Rift Valley fever virus. A better understanding of the occurrence, abundance and distribution of mosquito species is often an important component of vector control and diseases control. This study was conducted at Souq Al-jum'aa municipality east of Tripoli district / Libya, during the period June to December 2016, 12 collection sites were selected randomly. Mosquito collections were carried out by CDC Miniature Black Light (UV) and breeding containers; to determine species composition at Souq Al-jum'aa municipality eastern Tripoli, Libya. Seven species representing three genera Aedes, Culex, Culiseta were Aedes detritus, Aedes caspius, Aedes dorsalis, Culex perexiguus, Culex pipiens, Culex laticinctus and Culiseta longiareolate. The dominant species was Culex pipiens with more than 84%. The presence of Aedes, Culex, Culiseta suggests the potential risk for vector-borne diseases. In this study, the results on Mosquito species may help with future planning of vector control measures. However, additional studies are recommended, to have an up-to-date list of the species present in the country.

Full text

International Journal of Entomology Research
122
International Journal of Entomology Research
ISSN: 2455-4758; Impact Factor: RJIF 5.24
Received: 10-09-2019; Accepted: 22-10-2019
www.entomologyjournals.com
Volume 4; Issue 6; November 2019; Page No. 122-125
Mosquito species composition at a selected area in eastern Tripoli, Libya
Hanan A Aqeehal1*, Naema Shibani2, Badereddin B Annajar3
1, 3 National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health, Libya
3 Public Health Department, Faculty of Medical Technology, University of Tripoli, Libya
2 Zoology Department, Science Faculty, University of Tripoli, Libya
2 Department of Life Sciences, School of Basic Sciences, Libyan Academy, Libyan
Abstract
Mosquito pose a serious health concern for they are potential vectors of some of the most important diseases to human and
animal, including, malaria, filariasis, West Nile virus and Rift Valley fever virus. A better understanding of the occurrence,
abundance and distribution of mosquito species is often an important component of vector control and diseases control. This
study was conducted at Souq Al- jum’aa municipality east of Tripoli district / Libya, during the period June to December
2016, 12 collection sites were selected randomly. Mosquito collections were carried out by CDC Miniature Black Light (UV)
and breeding containers; to determine species composition at Souq Al- jum’aa municipality eastern Tripoli, Libya. Seven
species representing three genera Aedes, Culex, Culiseta were Aedes detritus, Aedes caspius, Aedes dorsalis, Culex perexiguus,
Culex pipiens, Culex laticinctus and Culiseta longiareolate. The dominant species was Culex pipiens with more than 84%. The
presence of Aedes, Culex, Culiseta suggests the potential risk for vector-borne diseases. In this study, the results on Mosquito
species may help with future planning of vector control measures. However, additional studies are recommended, to have an
up-to-date list of the species present in the country.
Keywords: souq al- jum’aa, mosquito, species composition, Libya
Introduction
Mosquito (family: Culicidae) are of great important in terms
of public health. They represent a greater health problem
because of their potential vector of some important disease
for humans and animals [1]. A part from mosquito borne
pathogens, mosquitoes cause nuisances for both animals and
humans [2]. There has been little publishes regarding
mosquito species in Libya, studies of Libyan mosquitoes
recoded 38 species [1-16] Although some species such as
Aedes aegypti, Aedes taeniorhynchoides hasn’t been
recorded since 1934 [16] Aedes albopictus has not been yet
recoded; but their recent presences in neighboring North
African countries Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia [17, 18, 19]
heights the risk of their potential introduction in Libya,
which is a sufficient reason to establish mosquito species
surveillance. To our knowledge, there is no update data
available on mosquito species of Souq Al- jum’aa
municipality at Tripoli district. Therefore, the aim of this
current study was to determine the species composition in
this municipality and to gather data so that their role as
vector for various human and animal’s disease may be better
understood.
Materials and methods
Study area
This survey was conducted in Souq Al- jum’aa
municipality, which is situated 5 km on the east of Tripoli
district (32.8894 °N, 13.2419°E) at altitudes 222 m above
sea level / Libya, covers an area approximately 45.17 km2
with 259133 inhabitants [20].This municipality is generally a
residential areas characterized by the available vegetation,
animals, birds, marshy, beaches, sport field and Mitiga
Airport. The climatological data were recorded by the
nearest available climate station to the geographical
location. The average temperature in Souq Al- jum’aa
municipality was 23.9c°, the average rainfall was 25.6 mm
and 63.7% average relative humidity recorded during the
study period 2016 [21] Figure 1.
Fig 1: Map of collection localities of the study area
Mosquito collection
Mosquito survey were carried out at twelve sites from June
to December in year 2016, collection were performed once
every 2 weeks at each area. Mosquito were collected
overnight, covering sunset and sunrise period, with 15 CDC
Miniature Black Light (UV) Trap Model 1212 (John
W.Hock Company®), the traps were set at the same

International Journal of Entomology Research
123
collection sites throughout the study period, these sites were
namely Arada Rd 1, Arada Rd 2, 16 Road, Alhany Rd, 20
Ramadan Rd/ 11 June Rd, Terracena, Alshat, Mitiga
International Airport, Mitiga base, Talpagh, Warima,
Abusitta Horse Racing, also mosquito larvae were collected
and rear to imago stage to asset the adult collection [22]. The
emerged adult were collected and preserved in plastic vials,
all mosquito specimens were refrigerated 4c° and then
transferred to the parasitology and vector borne diseases
laboratory at the National Center for Disease Control
(NCDC), were they were identified to species with
identification software an offline keys, MosKeyTool: an
interactive identification key for mosquitoes of Euro-
Mediterranean [23].
Results
During the study period 7 adults of mosquito species were
collected from Souq Al- jum’aa municipality at Tripoli
district. Notably (Aedes detritus, Aedes caspius, Aedes
dorsalis, Culex perexiguus, Culex pipiens, Culiseta
longiareolate and Culex laticinctus). The encountered
species were belonging to 3 genera, namely; Culex 96% (3
species); Aedes 3.3% (3 species) and Culiseta 1.5% (one
species).(Table 1).
Table 1: Total No. of mosquito species collected during the survey
at Souq Al - Jum'aa Municipality / Tripoli
Species
No. Collected
Aedes caspius
16
Aedes dorsalis
5
Aedes detritus
4
Culex laticinctus
14
Culex perexiguus
74
Culex pipiens
634
Culiseta longiareolate
11
Total
758
Composition and localities of the mosquito collected in this
survey are shown in (Table 2). The highest numbers of
mosquitoes were collected in Arada Rd, Talpagh 260, 120,
respectively and the lowest were collected in Terracena,
Mitiga Airport 23, 23 respectively.
Table 2: Composition and localities of the mosquito collected from Souq Al - Jum'aa Municipality / Tripoli
Code
Site
Jun 2016
Jul 2016
Aug 2016
Sept 2016
Oct 2016
Nov 2016
Dec 2016
Total
Arada Rd 1
Ara 1
Site 1
15
42
32
26
64
61
20
260
Arada Rd 2
Ara 2
Site 2
6
2
6
16
8
13
11
62
16 Road
Rd 16
Site 3
2
1
2
4
5
4
9
27
Alhany Rd
Alh Rd
Site 4
4
1
1
2
11
9
10
38
20 Ramadan Rd/ 11 June Rd
20 Rd/ 11 June
Site 5
0
1
8
11
11
5
2
38
Terracena
Terr
Site 6
0
0
2
2
9
4
6
23
Alshat
Alsh
Site 7
4
2
8
1
12
3
7
37
Mitiga International Airport
MIA
Site 8
1
1
7
5
2
4
3
23
Mitiga base
MB
Site 9
3
3
5
8
4
3
5
31
Talpagh
Talp
Site 10
12
28
15
56
6
1
2
120
Warima
Wari
Site 11
5
3
3
34
2
2
2
51
Abusitta Horse Racing
ABHR
Site 12
4
4
6
13
10
8
3
48
Total
56
88
95
178
144
117
80
758
Monthly variations in species composition of mosquitoes
were the highest collected on October 144 and the lowest 56
on June (Table 3). Moreover, there were no significant
differences associated mosquito population with
temperature, relative humidity and rainfall (p> 0.05).
Table 3: Monthly variations of different species of mosquito population during the survey at Souq Al- Jum'aa Muicipality / Tripoli
Months
Ae. caspius
Ae. dorsalis
Ae. detritus
Cx. laticinctus
Cx. perexiguus
Cx. pipiens
Cs. longiareolate
Jun, 2016
0
0
0
1
2
53
0
Jul, 2016
0
0
0
3
10
74
1
Aug, 2016
0
0
0
0
11
84
0
Sep, 2016
0
0
0
1
11
163
3
Oct, 2016
16
5
4
1
17
96
5
Nov, 2016
0
0
0
2
13
100
2
Dec, 2016
0
0
0
6
10
64
0
Discussion and Conclusion
Mosquito survey show the abundance of various species
present at any given time such surveys is necessary to
evaluate mosquito born pathogen incidence in a community,
sampling efficacy differs according to trap type, trapping
with only
type of trap does not accurately represent the
mosquito fauna of individual study areas. Although, in this
study CDC Miniature Black Light (UV) and breeding
containers; were used, consequently this may have biases
with mosquito species capture. Moreover, the mosquitoes
were operated overnight, covering sunset and sunrise
periods, and some species that tend to be diurnally active,
namely aedines, may have been misrepresented [24,25,26].
Over all, the current result in shown percentage among the
genera Aedes, Culex, Culiseta were 96%, 3.3% and 1.5%
respectively. In genus Culex, Culex perexiguus, Culex
pipiens, was found abundantly throughout the study period
from June to December; our study was similar to [27, 28, 29].
The next prevalent species found was Culex laticinctus,
Culiseta longiareolata, however, less prevalent mosquito
species were recorded Aedes detritus, Aedes caspius and
Aedes dorsalis during October month; these results are
consistent to [29, 31, 32]. This study showed that the Culex
species distributed in a broad range of habitat preference

International Journal of Entomology Research
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than the other genera. While, Aedes species were found
from a few habitats and was the least diverse. The mosquito
composition in the residential area was vastly different to
the other sites in this study. This suggests that there is a
different diversity and composition of mosquitoes across
different land used area types. It was found that Arada road
and Talpagh was the most preferred site for mosquitoes. As
there was no huge difference in plants, animals and birds in
all the 12 collection sites. But these sites Arada road and
Talpagh had containing stagnant waters, such as flood
plains, poorly drained, ditches, etc... Certain species prefer
temporary environments (rainfall dependant); the current
results are consistent to those as described in literature [33 -
37]. It was found in current study that mosquito composition
were abundant at Arada Rd 1, 16 Road, and Talpagh
respectively. The current places that were mentioned had
much leaf litter, organic matter and used tires and wetland in
the rainy season which potentially caused high species
richness and diversity and provide a perennial source of
breeding place for these mosquitos. The gravid female is
predicted to oviposit in a breeding site that will maximize
the offspring fitness; suggesting thereby, the adult
mosquitoes will oviposit in sites with high shade and leaves
[34, 35]. Therefore, it could be speculated that a higher
abundance of mosquito adults might be correlated with high
shade and leaves in the sites observed (Arada Rd 1, 16
Road, Alhany Rd and Talpagh). The current findings are in
accordance and hence, consistent with the results already
published [33, 34]. In general, insects are exceedingly sensitive
to temperature, relative humidity and rainfall regiments and
frequently show great variations in seasonal abundance [34,
38]. In this study there were no significant differences
associated between mosquito population with temperature,
relative humidity and rainfall (p> 0.05). This could suggest
that a particular species found favor environment conditions
and habitat that allow species to dominate and thrive.
Conclusively, In this study, some potential vectors of
medical and veterinary importance such as Aedes detritus,
Aedes caspius, Aedes dorsalis, Culex perexiguus, Culex
pipiens, Culiseta longiareolate were identified. These
species are known vectors already identified in many
regions in the world, further studies on mosquito
composition are needed in the remaining unexplored area
and virus isolation are needed to identify arborviruses that
are circulating in the area. Such information will be valuable
in controlling potential outbreak of arbovirus disease in this
country.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors
alone are responsible for the content and writing of this
article.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the members who help out in collecting
mosquito samples.
This work was supported by Parasitology
and Vector Borne diseases Laboratory and the National
Center for Diseases Control – Ministry of health Tripoli /
Libya, the assist of Souq Al jum’aa municipality Tripoli,
district/ Libya and Medlab secure; medical entomology
group (Vincent Robert) (IRD), and Gilbert Le Goff (IRD)
French National Research institute for sustainable
development for their grateful help and assistants.
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