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Entomological Studies at an Enzootic Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Focus in Guatemala, 1977–1980

E. W. Cupp^*, W. F. Scherer^**, J. B. Lok, R. J. Brenner, G. M. Dziem AND J. V. Ordonez^¶

^* Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Department of Pathobiology, The School of Veterinary Medicine HI, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Insects Affecting Man and Animal Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture-ARS, Gainesville, Florida 32611
Pfizer Corporation, Groton, Connecticut 06340
^¶ University of Maryland Cancer Center, Baltimore, Maryland 21201

The ecology of several potential mosquito vectors of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) alphavirus was studied in an enzootic focus of that virus on the Pacific coast of Guatemala over a four-year period. Four species—Culex taeniopus, Mansonia titillans, Culex nigripalpus and Aedes taeniorhynchus—were most prevalent during the wet season when transmission normally occurs. However, only Cx. taeniopus yielded VEE virus. The bloodfeeding patterns of these species revealed that Ae. taeniorhynchus and Ma. titillans fed almost exclusively on bovine and equine hosts. Conversely, Cx. nigripalpus was highly ornithophilic but occasionally fed on mammals. Cx. taeniopus exhibited a wide host range, utilizing both large and small mammals as well as birds and, rarely, reptiles. The versatility in feeding pattern displayed by this mosquito coupled with its ability to become infected with relatively low levels of enzootic VEE virus suggests that vertebrates other than rodents may serve as amplifying hosts in this habitat.

Nepuyo virus was also isolated from Cx. taeniopus, suggesting that this mosquito might be an endemic vector of this rodent-associated bunyavirus. A single isolate of St. Louis encephalitis virus was made from Cx. nigripalpus.

Accepted for publication February 21, 1986.

^** Deceased.