Host feeding patterns of Nyssorhynchus darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Brazilian Amazon

Nyssorhynchus darlingi (Root) is the dominant malaria vector in the Brazilian Amazon River basin, with additional Anophelinae Grassi species involved in local and regional transmission. Mosquito blood-feeding behavior is an essential component to define the mosquito-human contact rate and shape the transmission cycle of vector-borne diseases. However, there is little information on the host preferences and blood-feeding behavior of Anophelinae vectors in rural Amazonian landscapes. The barrier screen sampling (BSS) method was employed to sample females from 34 peridomestic habitats in 27 rural communities from 11 municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon states of Acre, Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia, from August 2015 to November 2017. Nyssorhynchus darlingi comprised 97.94% of the females collected resting on barrier screens, and DNA sequence comparison detected 9 vertebrate hosts species. The HBI index ranged from 0.03-1.00. Results revealed the plasticity of Ny. darlingi in blood-feeding on a wide range of mainly mammalian hosts. In addition, the identification of blood meal sources using silica-dried females is appropriate for studies of human malaria vectors in remote locations.