Abstract:
Mosquitoes are a group of insects that transmit many dreadful diseases causing serious health problems to human beings. Furthermore, for any vector control measure to be successful, good knowledge of the breeding ecology of mosquitoes is important. Thirty six (36) sampling sites were chosen from six (6) towns within Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State and each was characterised for Physico-chemical parameters including water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH. Environmental variables studied included turbidity, bottom substrate, habitat type and canopy coverage. Larvae were collected from each site using dippers and reared in the laboratory until adults emerged. The adult mosquitoes were identified using morphological keys and molecular procedure using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data collected from this study was analyzed using One Way Anova and mean were separated using tukey’s HSD at p < 0.05. Result showed a total of 1532 Mosquitoes, 12 Anopheline, 51 Aedes sp. and 1479 Culicine. There was significant difference in the distribution of Anopheline and Aedes mosquitoes collected from the rural urban settlements but there was no significant difference between the culicine mosquitoes collected form all the rural urban settlements examined (p < 0.005). The study concludes that Anopheles sp. breed in open, clear water bodies with high dissolved oxygen, Culex sp. were found in turbid habitats characterised with low dissolved oxygen and the breeding of Aedes spp were found to be enhanced only during the rainy season as majority of the Aedes spp were found in artificial containers. The occurrence of Aedes, Anopheles and Culex mosquitoes suggests the occurrence of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and filariasis in the Local Government Area.
