Host-feeding patterns of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from central Panama

Abstract

A 10-year study of blood meal identification in mosquitoes collected at numerous sites over several ecosystems in central Panama was conducted from 1977 to 1987. The hosts for 4,391 mosquito blood meals, representing 30 species, were identified to the family level of specificity in most instances. The degree that individual mosquitoes had fed on animals of different classes and families within these classes was determined. Multiple feeding among several mosquito species was documented. The relationship between reservoir hosts of endemic arboviruses and a number of known and potential mosquito vectors was demonstrated as a result of the blood meal identifications.