Aedes mosquito larvae collected from Ishigaki-jima and Taketomi-jima Islands in southern Japan.

ABSTRACT

An investigation of habitat preference for larval breeding sites by Aedes (Diptera Culicidae) mosquitoes which occur around human dwellings in Ishigaki-jima and Taketomi-jima Islands revealed that Ae. albopictus Skuse 1894 preferred pools in tires and boats and was distributed widely from the coast, inland. Although Ae. riversi Bohart & Ingram, 1946 and Ae. flavopictus miyarai (Tanaka et al, 1979) shared tree holes as larval breeding sites, Ae. riversi was collected near the ocean whereas Ae. flavopictus miyarai was collected inland. Ae. togoi Theobald, 1907 was collected near the coast and strongly preferred boats. Our study showed that habitat preference was different between four species of Aedes mosquito in Ishigaki-jima and Taketomi-jima Islands.