Fauna and the distribution of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari province, 2011-2012

Mosquitoes constitute a large family in Diptera and because of their ability in the transmission of a wide range of pathogens are of great public health and medical importance. This study was carried out to refresh our current knowledge on the fauna and the distribution of indigenous mosquitoes in Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari Province. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out during the summers of 2011 and 2012 in the all districts of Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari Province. Larval specimens were collected by the standard dipping method and identified with the aid of valid keys. Identification data plus the geographical information of the collection sites were entered in ArcGIS 10.0 software to draw the map of distribution for each mosquito species. In this investigation, 8335 larvae were collected from 92 larval habitats belonged to 18 mosquito species including Culiseta longiareolata Macquart, Cs. subochrea Edwards, Ochlerotattus caspius Pallas s.l., Culex theileri Theobald, Cx. territans Walker, Cx. hortensis Ficalbi, Cx. pipiens Linnaeus, Cx. perexiguus Theobald, Cx. mimeticus Noe, Cx. tritaeniorhyncus Giles, Cx. arbieeni Salem, Cx. laticinctus Edwards, Anopheles maculipennis Meigen s.l., An. superpictus Grassi, An. dthali Patton, An. marteri Senevet and Prunnelle, An. claviger (Meigen) and An. turkhudi Liston. Culex territans is reported here as a new record for Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari Province. Culex theileri and An. superpictus showed the most abundance and the widest distribution in the province. This study indicates that a few potential mosquito vectors are quite diverse and well distributed in Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari Province. Further studies are needed to draw a reasonable conclusion on the capacity of indigenous mosquito species to transmit pathogens in the province.