Diversity and seasonal succession of coastal mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the northern Adelaide region of South Australia

Northern coastal suburbs in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia are often subject to extreme levels of mosquito nuisance biting. The diversity and seasonality of the mosquito community in the coastal area of northern Adelaide was investigated over 7 years (2000-2007) in the suburb of Globe Derby Park, which is adjacent to both mangrove and samphire swamps. Eight species were identified from adult mosquito collections, with the salt marsh mosquitoes Aedes camptorhynchus (Thomson) (55.7%) and Ae. vigilax (Skuse) (29.5%) most abundant. These two species display seasonal succession, with the former most abundant in spring and early summer, giving way to the latter in mid-late summer and autumn. Logistic regression showed that Ae. camptorhynchus abundance spikes were associated with lower temperatures, higher rainfall and increasing day length (r² = 0.38). Aedes vigilax abundance spikes were associated with higher temperatures and decreasing day length (r² = 0.52). The description of such temporal succession in salt marsh mosquitoes in southern Australia is novel. The analysis presented might therefore lead to the development of mosquito nuisance predictive tools and novel mosquito management strategies.