Cubiertas de auto abandonadas como sitios de cría de Culex eduardoi (Diptera: Culicidae) en el Parque Provincial Pereyra Iraola, Provincia de Buenos Aires

the knowledge about tire-breeding mosquitoes is truly scarce in argentina. the objective of this study was to characterize a population of immatures of culex eduardoi casal & garcia, from a pile of abandoned tires located in a suburban forest of buenos aires province. between november 2009 and may 2010, mosquito larvae were monthly collected in 27 abandoned tires within a woody area of the parque provincial pereyra iraola. a total of 1009 third and fourth instar larvae of cx. eduardoi were collected, and the overall container index (ci) was 66.3% (106/160). culex eduardoi was collected every month but the ci differed significantly (x2(6) = 15.11; p < 0.05), reaching maximum values in november and december (76 and 92.5% respectively). in spring, the relative abundance of larvae was also the highest, and the mean number of larvae collected per habitat was 9.5 (min. 3.5 in march; max.15.1 in november). other mosquito species such as cx. pipiens linneo and toxorhynchites theobaldi dyar & knab were also found in the studied containers. the present findings contribute with novel knowledge on culicids of tires in argentina.