Biodiversity and Density of Larvae and Adults of Anopheles Mosquitoes in El Obied City – Sudan

The weather changes especially rainfall affects the distribution and densities of mosquitoes. There are about 380 species of Anopheles, recorded, sixty of them act as vectors of many diseases. This work was carried out to study the biodiversity and density of Anopheles mosquitoes {adults and larvae} in El Obied City. A cross-sectional survey of Anopheline mosquito larval habitats was conducted during {April 2014 - April 2016}. Larvae were collected by using the standard dipping and netting techniques weekly for the whole year from five selected stations, while adult stages were collected by spray sheet method using Permethrin 25% E. C. The climatic factors and the malaria cases among the study areas were also recorded. The DNA from the identified adults and larvae was extracted in order to make the molecular confirmation for these species. The results revealed that, all Anopheline mosquito larvae {100%} which were found and collected from three breeding sites during all seasons were classified as probably Anopheles squamosus. The study also showed that, all {100%} of adults Anopheline mosquito were classified as most probably A. squamosus and then this result was confirmed by the National Laboratory for Public Health, Medical Entomology Department, Khartoum {as a first record for this sp.}. A. squamosus were found only in the shallow pond water habitat in El Obied City. The mean Anopheline density in the study area for larvae was 0.42 per dip while the mean density of adults was 0.55 per room. The high mosquito larval density in El Obied City indicated that, it is at risk of mosquito-borne diseases including malaria. The correlation analysis between mosquito abundance and density to the malaria cases within the selected stations in El Obied City, was positive. The macro and microclimate within which the larvae and the adults A. squamosus lived ware also compared to that of other Anopheles species studied before, and new limits were recorded concerning mainly: temperature {15.5 - 41.1°C}, relative humidity{16–82%} and rainfall {6.3–88.2 mm} in respect to outdoor and indoor resting mosquitoes specially for adults, and temperature {24–27°C}, pH {6.5–7.2} and salinity {1.6–1.9}of larval breeding site waters in addition to the floral types. This study is recommended to be conducted in the other Cities and Sudan