Host Associations of () (Diptera: Culicidae) and () from Florida, USA.

Characterizing the host-use patterns of mosquitoes is an essential component of understanding the transmission dynamics of mosquito-vectored pathogens. The host associations of two species of the medically important subgenus , and are unknown or unclear, respectively. Both species have wide neotropical distributions. In the United States of America (USA), occurs throughout the southeastern coastal plain, while is restricted to the southern Florida Peninsula. Using PCR-based blood meal analysis, we investigated the host associations of and that were collected from Everglades National Park, Florida, USA We identified the host species of 208 and 168 . Both species were narrowly associated with reptilian host species, particularly native and non-native lizards of the genus . Sampled exclusively fed on reptilian hosts, with >99% of blood meals derived from lizards. fed predominantly from reptiles, but avian and mammalian blood meals were also detected. Of these, 92% of blood meals were derived from species. For both species, , an invasive exotic lizard in Florida, was the most frequently detected host species. These data indicate that and are specialists of reptilian hosts, particularly lizards.