The ecology of anopheline mosquitos in northwest coastal Malaysia: host preferences and biting-cycles

The host preferences of eight species of anophelines were studied in two coastal Malaysian villages, Kampung Permatang Rawa and Sungai Udang Kecil, by seven 12-hour catches in each village. Collections were made concurrently from a human-baited net trap, a cow-baited net trap and by human-bait landing catches. Anopheles campestris was attracted almost equally to man and cow, but An. lesteri paraliae, An. nigerrimus, An. peditaeniatus, An. sinensis, An. indefinitus, An. subpictus and An. vagus showed a strong preference for the cow bait. The human-bait landing catches were more productive than the human-baited net trap, which attracted very few mosquitos. Seven more all-night catches were made at each village employing only the cow-baited trap, and the combined data were used to plot the biting-cycles of each species at each site. Although the biting-cycles at the two localities were in general agreement, there were notable differences. At Sungai Udang Kecil, where the collection site was relatively sheltered, several species showed a steady decline in numbers from sunset to sunrise. At Kampung Permatang Rawa, on the other hand, where the site was more exposed and close to the sea, the same species showed a bimodal pattern of activity with an early evening peak followed by a decline then a period of increased activity before sunrise rising to a second, lesser peak at 0500-0600 hours.