Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) diversity and medical importance in Koh Kong mangrove forests, Cambodia.

Background: Mangroves are an ecosystem interface between land and sea, forming distinctive shallow-water marine communities in tropical and subtropical waters. The mangrove forest surface in Cambodia is being reduced due to deforestation. Because the mangrove type of ecosystem generally hosts a great diversity of mosquitoes, the urbanization of these ecosystems will increase interactions between humans and wild mosquitoes, and might thus serve as a potential source of new infectious diseases. Understanding mosquito diversity and analyzing their virome is critical to estimate the risk of emergence or future outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases.

Objective: To understand the mosquito diversity of mangrove forests of Koh Kong province (Cambodia).

Methods: In 2019, the mosquito fauna was sampled for 3 consecutive days using BG-Sentinel and light traps, in 3 locations in the mangrove forests of Koh Kong province (Cambodia) during both dry and rainy seasons.

Results: A total of 3107 samples were collected, belonging to 10 genera for 34 species. The Culex genus was the most diverse, accounting for 10 species. One species, Culex sitiens, represented over 60% of all collected mosquitoes. A total of 12 medically important species were recorded, 2 species, Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus and Culex vishnui, were collected in all sites and during both the dry and rainy seasons, highlighting a potential risk of these species acting as bridge vectors.

Conclusions: If new arboviruses were to be recorded in this peculiar area, it would indicate that the mosquito species found have the potential to act as a bridge between sylvatic and anthropogenic arboviruses.