Abstract:
Culicine mosquitoes are vectors of human disease-causing pathogens like filarial worms and several
arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). Currently, there has been an increase in emerging and re-emerging
vector-borne diseases along coastal Kenya, which has been of major concern in public health. This study
aimed at determining culicine mosquito species abundance, diversity and their host feeding preferences in
Taita-Taveta County, Coastal Kenya. Entomological sampling was done during the long-wet season (March
and May) and long dry season (June to October) 2016–2018. Mosquito sampling was done using CDC light
traps and Backpack aspiration for indoor and outdoor environments. All culicine mosquitoes collected were
identified morphologically and categorized according to their physiological status. Blood fed culicine mos-
quitoes were tested for bloodmeal sources using ELISA. In total, 3,278 culicine mosquitoes were collected,
of which 738 (22.5 %) were found indoors and 2,540, (77.5 %) outdoors. The mosquitoes consisted of 18
species belonging to four genera: Aedes (7), Culex (8), Mansonia (2), and Coquillettidia (1). Overall, there
was high mosquito species diversity (H) in outdoors (H = 2.4339) than in indoors (H = 2.2523), whereas even
distribution (EH) was higher in indoors (EH = 0.9064) than outdoors (EH = 0.8266). Majorly the bloodmeals
identified were from multiple host sources with (51.6%), single hosts (41.3%), and unidentified (7.2%). This
study has demonstrated a high diversity of culicine mosquitoes with relaxed feeding tendencies. These
mosquitoes are contributing to mosquito biting nuisance and the likelihood of exposure of populations to
diseases of public health.
