Anopheline fauna of Ajodhya hills, district Purulia. West Bengal

Anopheline fauna of cattlesheds (CS) in Ajodhya hills, District Purulia, consisted of 12 species during summer, monsoon and 10 species during winter. Of the six vector species encountered in CS, Anopheles culicifacies, An. annularis, An. subpictus, An. maculatus and An. fluviatilis were found in all the three seasons. An. philippinensis was encountered in monsoon only and constituted 0.61% of the total anopheline catch made during the season. An. culicifacies was the most predominant species during summer (MHD 30.38) and monsoon (MHD 11) but ranked third (MHD 9.64) to An. annularis (MHD 16.28) during winter; An. subpictus being second (MHD 10.28) in order of predominance. An. annularis was the second most prevalent vector species in summer (MHD 21.38) and monsoon (MHD 9.92). The population density of the remaining three vector species was extremely low in the two seasons. In human dwelling (HD), of the five anopheline species encountered (An. subpictus, An. annularis, An. culicifacies, An. vagus and An. splendidus), the former three were found in all the three seasons. MHD of An. annularis in HD in summer, monsoon and winter was 3.7, 1.1 and 1.9 respectively, while MHD of An. culicifacies in the corresponding seasons was 5.01, 2.09 and 1.31 respectively.