SURVEY OF MOSQUITO BREEDING HABITATS IN MBUKOBE AREA OF ABAKALIKI URBAN CITY, EBONYI STATE NIGERIA

Mosquitoes are widely distributed throughout the world and they utilize different water sources for their breeding. Many species breed in both natural and artificial containers such as pools, gutters, septic tanks, tree holes etc. This survey was carried out to access the presence and abundance of mosquito larvae in different breeding habitats. Sampling of the larval forms of mosquito was conducted in five different habitats (ground pools, open well, gutters, drums, and discarded containers). The mosquito larvae were collected using standard 100 ml, 150 ml and 130 ml dippers with long handle. Each dip was put in a labeled specimen bottle containing 70% alcohol and transported to laboratory where the drawn water containing larvae was poured into a white bowel and checked visually and when present, larval were collected by pipette and identified. A total of four hundred and eighty six (486) larvae belonging to three genera; Culex, Aedes and Anopheles were encountered in the sites sampled. Anopheles has the highest percentage composition (53.3%), followed by Culex (33.5%) while Aedes has the least occurrence (13.2%). Five different species belonging to the three genera were identified. Among the Anopheles were; Anopheles funestus, Anpheles gambiae and Anopheles nili. Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes palpalis were the only Culex and Aedes species identified respectively. Among the five habitats sampled, gutters had the highest species diversity followed by ground pools while the least abundance was seen in discarded containers. The rate of mosquito breeding in the study site is of public health importance and this seems to be encouraged by the poor sanitation observed in the area. Regular environmental sanitation is hereby recommended in order to discourage the breeding activities of mosquitoes, a measure which is imperative in malaria control.