Culex Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) In Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract:
Breeding sites of Culex pipiens molestus, an autogenous and anthropophilic bioform of Culex pipiens, were frequently detected in flooded basements of buildings in Prague in the second half of the last century. The breeding sites gradually disappeared owing to improved maintenance of buildings after the political/ownership changes in 1989. The last report of a breeding place of Cx. molestus in Prague was made by the author in July 2010. According to our previous long-term studies, the anautogenous and mostly ornithophilic bioform of Cx. pipiens was always abundant in Prague and its surroundings. Culex torrentium was not detected in Prague before the turn of the 20th century. Its breeding sites were various water reservoirs or road puddles where the Culex torrentium larvae appeared either alone or along with those of Cx. pipiens. In June 2013, after heavy rains which caused disastrous floods in Prague, no larvae of flood mosquito species such as Aedes vexans appeared in the flooded zones. Later, Culex larvae (80% Cx.pipiens, 20% Cx. torrentium on average) appeared sporadically in flooded park meadows. The identification of Cx. pipiens/torrentium was based on the microscopic morphology of the hypopygia of the males reared in laboratory from larvae/pupae collected in the field. In flooded terrain depressions in Prague forests, Cx. torrentium (> 99%) larvae developed in densities often exceeding 100 individuals/dm2 . Two dozen Cx. modestus larvae were caught on the edge of flooded meadows/fields in the southern outskirts of Prague. Cx. territans has disappeared from the Prague area as a result of progressive urbanization of land.