Mosquito Species Breeding in Bromeliad Axils on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii

Abstract

Bromeliads are important ornamental plants in Hawaii. They grow widely in yards, gardens and commercial nurseries. The water held in bromeliads provides breeding sites for mosquito larvae. A survey was conducted from May to September 2001 at four sites on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Choice of three species of bromeliads for the survey was based solely on the volume of reservoirs of water held in their axils. They were Vriesea aff. regina, Neoregelia sp. and Neoregelia ‘Macwilliamsii’. Four species of mosquitoes were recovered, including a bromeliad mosquito, Wyeomyia mitchellii (Theobald), the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), the southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus (Say), and a beneficial species, Toxorhynchites amboinensis (Doleschall). The abundance of mosquito larvae was affected by bromeliad species. The larvae of Wy. mitchellii, Ae. albopictus and T. amboinensis were found in all three species of bromeliads while Cu. quinquefasciatus was only recovered from V. aff. regina. Overall, V. aff. regina, the largest of the three species, contained more mosquito larvae, both in numbers and species, than the other two species of bromeliads. The abundance of mosquito larvae in bromeliads was also affected by their location. For the three noxious species of mosquitoes, the number of larvae present in the axils of the three species of bromeliads varied from site to site. For V. aff. regina, more Cu. quinquefasciatus larvae were found in the leaf axils than in the central axils. The three noxious species of mosquitoes can either breed alone or together in V. aff. regina axils.