Diversity of mosquito larval habitats in human habitations within a rice cultivation area in Padang Serai, Kedah, Malaysia

Rice is a staple food crop in Malaysia. Therefore, rice is widely cultivated in a few states of both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. Rice cultivation area is considered as an artificial aquatic habitat for many insects including mosquitoes (Bellini et al., 2000). As such, a total of 17 Anopheles species were captured from rice fields in Koraput district of Orissa state (Sadanandane et al., 1991). In India, breeding of Culex vishnui and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus were demonstrated in rice cultivation areas (Kanojia et al., 2003Banerjee & Chandra, 2004). Anopheles nigerrimus, An. vagus, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. pseudovishnui, Cx. gelidus and Cx. fuscocephala larvae were among mosquito species collected from the rice cultivation area in southern region of Sri Lanka (Yasuoka & Levins, 2007). In Malaysia, populations of both Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. vishnui were observed in rice cultivation areas in Sekinchan, Selangor (Chen et al., 2012). Culex quinquefasciatus is generally known as the Malaysian nuisance mosquito species as well as a potential vector of urban Bancroftian filariasis (Yap et al., 2000Vythilingam et al., 2005). On the other hand, Cx. vishnui involves in the transmission of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in Southeast Asia region (Mariappan et al., 2014). (Copied from article)