Mosquitoes in small urban spaces: identification of blood meals and flight distances of engorged females in the southern Great Plains of the United States.

Abstract

Vector-borne disease transmission can only occur when host(s), vector(s), and pathogen(s) interact in a given environment. While many studies have focused on these interactions in large urban areas, there is a need for habitat-focused studies in small urban areas where human populations are often close to wildlife and livestock. The aim of the current study was to identify the bloodmeal sources of mosquitoes in a small urban area in the southern Great Plains of the United States. Using 2 trap types, bloodmeals from 12 different hosts were detected, and the most frequently detected bloodmeal hosts were white-tailed deer, cow, and horse. The known locations of livestock at each site made it possible to identify the nearest location where mosquitoes could have fed on cows, horses, and alpacas, and we demonstrated that mosquitoes could fly distances between 200 m and 1.2 km from the bloodmeal host to the resting trap location within 30 h after taking blood. This study highlights the opportunities that are available within small urban areas to discover important host-vector relationships.