Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and their control by means of biological agents in Villa Clara province, Cuba

The principal permanent breeding grounds in the 13 municipalities of the province of Villa Clara were sampled to examine the species of larvivorous fish existent in these reservoirs. The species of mosquitoes associated to these reservoirs were identified. An experiment was carried out to assess the predation capacity of the copepod Mesocyclops aspericornis on Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. Also, an economic evaluation was made to assess the expenses inverted in the Intensive Campaign in the year 2006 with the purpose decreasing mosquito populations. The proportions of positiveness for Stegomyia aegypti were compared between the different cycles of the campaign; this was achieved using a logistic model and a proportional hypothesis test. On the other hand, the results of the experiment of depredation were processed using simple ANOVA and polinomial regression. The results show that the species of mosquitoes and fish most widely distributed in the province corresponded to Anopheles albimanus, Ochlerotatus mediovittata, Oc. taeniorhynchus,Psorophora confinnis, Culex quinquefasciatus and Cx. nigripalpus, and to Gambusia punctata, Girardinus metallicus,Poecilia reticulata, Limia vittata and Cichlasoma tetracanthus respectively. Also it was demonstrated in vitro, that the copepod Me. aspericornis is able to depredate up to eight larvae of Cx.quinquefasciatus in 24 hours. We also concluded that the use of biological agents is a simpleand relatively economic alternative within the integrated programs of control of mosquito vectors of diseases in Villa Clara,unlike the utilization of insecticides which are highly expensive and noxious to the environment.