Mosquito Assemblage Diversity In Urban Parks, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract:
Due to the scarcity of information about the fauna of mosquitoes in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, an investigation was done with the aim of describing the diversity of species present in green areas of municipal parks in the city. Between March 2011 and February 2012, adult and immature mosquitoes were collected in seven parks in the municipality. The collections were once a month, in each park. The species richness was analyzed, Simpson’s diversity index (1 - D), abundance of the species of epidemiological interest and similarity of assemblages by Sorensen’s qualitative similarity index. Richness ranged between 11-36 species per park. Simpson index ranged between 0.014-0.833. Culex quinquefasciatus, Cx nigripalpus, Aedes fluviatilis, Ae. scapularis and Ae. albopictus were collected in parks showing relatively high abundance in some. Ae. aegypti were scarce or absent in these areas. The similarity between sessions ranged from 0.32 (Anhanguera - Ibirapuera) to 0.8 (Chico Mendes - Ibirapuera).