Overcrowding Effects on Larval Development of Four Mosquito Species Aedes Albopictus, Aedes Aegypti, Culex Quinquefasciatus and Anopheles Stephensi

Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes are recognized as medically important vectors, responsible for various disease transmissions such as Dengue, Chikungunya, malaria and Japanese encephalitis.These mosquito species are vastly abundant in artificial containers and strongly adapted to urban environment.Forest clearing, irrigation development and human resettlement results in large-scale increase of artificial containers, and provides various types of habitat for mosquito breeding (1,2) .Aigbodion and Uyi (2013) (3) have shown a high frequency of Cx. quinquefasciatus species, either alone or together in certain waters and sometimes even together with species of An. stephensi and Aedes species.Anopheline species are known to be ground pool breeders, although large numbers have been observed in gutters, periodomestic runoff and domestic containers (4,5) .As a result of adaptation to human environments, mosquito larvae may develop in man-made containers which are able to hold stagnant water.Resource competition in such type of small water containers could undergo intra-specific or interspecific competition.This competition promotes density-dependent interactions among individuals which lead to reduced mosquito survivorship, growth, and adult size (6,7) .Gimnig et al. (2002) (8) observed the significant differences in size and larval survivorship, while studying the densitydependent larval interactions in An. gambiae.