Aechmea distichantha (Bromeliaceae) Epiphytes, Potential New Habitat for Aedes Aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Collected in the Province of Tucumán, Northwestern Argentina

Abstract

Larval habitats of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus) and Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus Say in the epiphyte Aechmea distichantha Lemaire (Poales: Bromeliaceae), were found and described both in semi-urban and rural localities of piedmont forest of the subtropical mountainous Yungas rainforest in the province of Tucuman, northwestern Argentina. This finding suggests that these anthropophilic disease vectors have achieved a degree of introduction and adaptation to the primitive forest, and that the bromeliad, which possesses phytotelmata, has an epidemiological role in providing natural water containers for the breeding of mosquito vectors.

Aechmea distichantha Lemaire (Poales: Bromeliaceae) epífita se describe como hábitat larval de Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus) y Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus Say halladas tanto en localidades semi-urbanas como rurales de los bosques de piedemonte de la selva subtropical montañosa de las Yungas de la provincia de Tucumán, noroeste de Argentina. Este hallazgo sugiere que estos vectores antropofílicos han alcanzado cierto grado de introduction y adaptation al bosque primitivo, y que la bromelia (fitotelmata), tiene un papel epidemiológico en el suministro de contenedores naturales de agua para la cría de mosquitos vectores.