Evaluation of Seasonal Feeding Patterns of West Nile Virus Vectors in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA: Implications for Disease Transmission

Many mosquito species preferentially take blood meals from either birds or mammals. Other mosquito species are less host specific and  feed readily on both. Furthermore, some species tend to alter their feeding patterns over the course of the year; early in mosquito season they feed primarily on birds. As the season progresses, such mosquitoes take an increasingly larger proportion of their blood meals from mammals. We have examined the feeding patterns of the two most abundant, competent West Nile Virus (WNV) vectors in Bernalillo County, Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) and Aedes vexans (Meigen). This current study seeks to determine if either of these two species displays this seasonal shift in feeding pattern, as has been observed elsewhere. Our current data for Cx. quinquefasciatus suggests that unlike elsewhere in its range, this species increases its proportion of avian blood meals as the season progresses.  Ae. vexans, alternatively, feeds primarily on mammals throughout the mosquito season. These data may provide us with a more precise picture of mosquito feeding habits and the transmission dynamics of WNV in Bernalillo County.