Abstract
To assess the possible incidence of mosquito-borne diseases in Yokohama Zoological Gardens, mosquitoes were collected from May to September in 2005 using sweep nets, Centers for Disease Control traps with dry ice, and gravid traps. A total of 2,623 mosquitoes belonging to 14 species in nine genera were collected. The two most abundant species, the Culex pipiens group and Aedes albopictus, accounted for approximately 85% of all specimens collected. The mosquito species collected at the study site account for 53.8% of all mosquito species reported to occur in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, suggesting that the diversity of habitats present in the zoo provide a variety of breeding sites for mosquitoes. In addition, the finding that 10.6% of the collected females had fed suggests that the mosquitoes feed on captive animals. The establishment of an effective strategy for controlling and preventing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases among zoo animals is therefore considered to be important for the ex situ conservation of captive endangered species.
