Utilização de larvas de Toxorhynchites no Controle de Formas Jovens de Culicideos Vetores de Doenças

Abstract

The family Culicidae comprises three subfamilies: Culicinae, Anophelinae and Toxorhynchitinae. The subfamily Toxorhynchitinae, the object of this study, is represented by a single genus: Toxorhynchites; with three subgeneric categories: Lynchiella lahile, 1904; Ankylorhynches luts, 1904; Toxorhynchites Teobald, 1901. The genus Toxorhynchites comprises 61 species, distributed in all zoogeographic regions. The objective of this work lies precisely in the fact that Toxorhynchites immatures can act as biological controllers of disease vector mosquitoes, since adults do not feed on blood. To obtain Toxorhynchites larvae, we are searching different environments, such as bamboo internodes, chestnut hedgehogs, bromeliaceae leaf axils, and artificial water reservoirs. To date, 32 Toxorhynchites larvae have been collected, distributed in the following nurseries: chestnut hedgehogs, 6 larvae; plastic tub, 10 larvae; bamboo internodes, 16 larvae. As for the food preference, so far we offered Culicidae of the genera Culex, Limatus, Wyeomyia, Ochlerotatus; the first of them was well accepted by the Toxorhynchites larvae, while the other genera showed some rejection. However, new genera of Culicidae will be tested and it is hoped that in the end more consistent information on the feeding behavior of Toxorhynchites larvae can be provided.