Mosquito species composition and their relative abundance in Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt

The present study investigated the relative abundance of mosquitoes larvae in three different breeding habitats in seven districts of Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt during two years (2019-2020). The results showed that the species composition of mosquitoes was represented by four genera and eight species; four of Culex (Cx. pipiens Linnaeus,1758, Cx. theileri Theobald,1903, Cx. perexiguus Theobald, 1903 and Cx. antennatus (Becker,1903)), two of Anopheles (An. coustani Laveran, 1900 and An. multicolor Cambouliu, 1902) and one each of Aedes and Culiseta (Ae. caspius (Pallas, 1771) and Cs. longiareolata (Macquart, 1838)). The results were demonstrated also, that Cx. pipiens (4934 larvae) was the most common species, followed by Cx. perexiguus (2991 larvae) in all breeding habitats. Particularly, this species distributed in drains more than irrigation tanks and agriculture canals, the other species of Anopheles and Aedes were very little or absence in all test breeding habitats. The densities of almost mosquitoes species with higher collections were found in Saft, Elfant and El-Maimun villages and rate of collection decreased in Tizmant and Bedahl. These information on the species composition and their abundance of mosquitoes in Beni-Suef may help better planning for the integrated pest management for these vectors and transmitted diseases.