Occurrence of Culex pipiens (Diptera, Culicidae) and Effect of Vent Net Sets for Mosquito Control at Septic Tanks in South-eastern Area of the Korean Peninsula
Culex pipiens complex larvae were found at the septic tanks in Susan and Ulsan cities located in South-eastern area of Korean peninsula. The larvae were collected in 25, 35 and 75 septic tanks out of 3,527, 622 and 1,111 septic tanks which the breeding rates were averages of 0.7%, 5.6% and 6.8% in Susan from January to May, 2003, Susan from February to March, 2004, and Ulsan from January to April, 2005, respectively. The average numbers of the mosquitoes in the tanks were 38.8, 14.9 and 13.7 larvae/dip with a 355-㎖ dipper. The larval densities were from 25.4 larvae/dip in January to 43.7 larvae/dip in April. 2003 which were not significantly different between them. It was the first report to find mosquito breeding at septic tanks in Republic of Korea. Culex pipiens larvae were found in 6 out of 379 septic tanks at complex buildings (over 2,000㎡ in size) in Ulsan from June to September, 2005, having an average of 1.6% for mosquito breeding rate. The mosquito larvae were collected in 8 and 530 septic tanks out of 210 and 3,729 septic tanks at large (over 300 homes) and small apartments (below 300 homes) with 3.8% and 14.2% of the average breeding rates, respectively. At the septic tanks of private houses for below 50 persons, 708 out of 7,178 septic tanks had Cx. pipiens larvae and pupae with 9.9% of the average breeding rate. Total average of the mosquito breeding rate was 10.9% of the investigated septic tanks of residential buildings in Ulsan. The number of mosquito larvae in the septic tanks were 15 to 75 larvae/dip. The bent net sets of septic tanks prevented from mosquito breeding to the rate of 93.1 %.