Characteristics of blood-sucking mosquito communities in the middle taiga of the Sverdlovsk region
The article presents new data on the species composition and distribution of blood-sucking mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) in coniferous and mixed middle taiga forests of the Sverdlovsk region (the river Tura basin). Abundance and occurrence of the studied species varied in different types of forest and ecotones. The studied mosquitoes belonged to 15 species of Aedes, Ochlerotatus and Culiseta. We compared the species composition and diversity of biting mosquitoes inhabiting the northern, middle and southern taiga of the Sverdlovsk region. The relative abundance of Oc. punctor, one of the dominant species in the Urals, remained almost unchanged in the transition from the northern taiga (21%) to the middle and southern taiga (29.8%). The relative abundance of Oc. communis was similarly high in the northern and middle taiga and even in spruce forests of the southern taiga (51.03%; 49.5% and 51.0% respectively) but it was 4 times less in pine forests of the southern taiga. The abundance of Oc. intrudens in the middle taiga was higher than in the adjacent areas. In other species, their abundance either decreased southward from the northern taiga ( Cs. bergrothi, Cs. alaskaensis ) or increased southward ( Oc. cantans, Oc. pionips, Oc. riparius, Ae. Cinereus) due to complex environmental factors, temperature and / or other reasons. We also recorded mosquito species rare for the middle taiga: Ae. vexans, Oc. flavescens, Oc. leucomelas, Oc. sticticus, Coq. richiardii.