Seasonal variations in indoor resting Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles arabiensis in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Abstract

A longitudinal study in a guinea savanna area in Northern Nigeria showed that indoor resting samples consisted almost entirely of An. gambiae in the wet season, characterized by relatively lower temperature and higher relative humidity, whereas An. arabiensis predominated in the dry season, characterized by relatively higher temperature and lower relative humidity. A significant change was also observed in the frequency of polymorphic chromosomal inversions in the population of An. gambiae. The inverted arrangements 2Rbc, 2Rd and 2La were found more frequent in the dry season samples as compared to the wet season ones.