A Comparative Study of Energy Contents in Mosquito Vectors of Malaria and Dengue Prevailing in Jodhpur City (Thar Desert) of Rajasthan State, India.

BACKGROUND

Transmission of malaria and dengue in the desert part of India is mainly caused by and respectively. The maintenance and transmission of the pathogens that cause malaria and dengue are dependent on the physiology of the mosquito vectors. We aimed to measure the energy contents in the mosquitoes transmitting malaria and dengue in the desert part of the country.

METHODS

Immature stages of mosquitoes were collected from six different larval habitats situated in Jodhpur City of Rajasthan state, India. The immature stages of both the mosquitoes were collected once in fortnightly from each location. Quantitative estimations of the lipid, glucose, and glycogen of the laboratory-reared and field collected and were made by spectrophotometric method. The energy contents of the larvae, pupae, females, and males were estimated in triplicates on six different occasions.

RESULTS

The lipid content of laboratory-reared larvae, pupae and female mosquitoes of and was found to be lower than their conspecific field-collected specimens. Whereas, the glycogen content in the laboratory-reared larvae, pupae and female mosquitoes of and was higher than that of their conspecific field-collected specimens. The glucose content in all the stages of the laboratory-reared was lower than their conspecific field-collected specimens except in few cases.

CONCLUSION

The higher amount of lipid in field-collected mosquitoes may be because of the availability of food in the natural habitat and adaptation of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes living in desert climate are physiologically better equipped to survive in the desert environment.