Nuevos registros de especies de mosquitos (Diptera: Culicidae) de la Comarca Lagunera de Durango, México New records of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in La Comarca Lagunera, Durango, Mexico

Introduction: Many mosquitoes are of great medical and veterinary importance because they transmit numerous pathogens which cause diseases in animals and humans; thus, knowing their taxonomy and distribution is pivotal for implementing the correct control strategies. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of mosquito species and their distribution in La Comarca Lagunera in the state of Durango, Mexico. Method: Adult mosquitoes were collected at different resting sites in four municipalities between August and November 2018 using Insectzookas. Aquatic habitats were also sampled for immature stages. Adult specimens were killed using lethal chambers with triethylamine vapors; while larvae and pupae were stored in individual tubes to obtain the adult stages and associated exuviae. All material was transported to the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Parasitology Department of the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Unidad Laguna (UAAAN-UL) for mounting and taxonomical identification. Species were identified using taxonomic keys for the region. Results: In total, 689 mosquito specimens (286 males and 403 females) were collected belonging to 15 species, among them Anopheles franciscanus McCracken, Culex erythrothorax Dyar, and Toxorhynchites moctezuma (Dyar and Knab) are new records for Durango State. The most abundant species was Cx. quinquefasciatus Say with 364 (56.2%) specimens, followed by Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (21.3%) and Ae. vexans (Meigen) (7.7%). Conclusion: 13 out of 15 species collected are associated with the transmission of an arbovirus of relevant medical or veterinary importance in Mexico. There are now 38 species recorded for Durango. The information in this study is directly relevant for the Health Ministry in Durango State for the control of vector borne diseases in the region.


Introduction
The majority of mosquitoes are hematophagous insects of great medical and veterinary relevance because the females of numerous species can transmit pathogens which cause diseases in animals and humans (Harbach, 2020). Some of these pathogens are arboviruses, for example: Dengue Virus (DENV), Zika Virus (ZIKV), Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV), Yellow Fever Virus (YFV), Western Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus (WEEV) (Liria and Navarro, 2010;Díaz-González et al., 2015;Turell et al., 2015). Mosquitoes causes greater morbidity and mortality in humans than any other groups of organisms (Harbach, 2020). High densities of biting females result in a significant biting issue, especially in touristic areas (Meisch, 1994).
There are 3,578 described mosquito species which are found in most habitats and terrestrial ecosystems (Harbach, 2020); all species are classified in two subfamilies Anophelinae and Culicinae within the Culicidae family, which include approximately 113 genera. In Mexico, there have been 20 genera and approximately 250 species recorded in the country. For Durango State in particular, presently there are only 35 species reported (Vargas, 1956;Vargas and Martínez-Palacios, 1956;Díaz Nájera and Vargas, 1973;Sudia et al., 1975;Duarte-Andrade et al., 2019;Hernández Amparan et al., 2020).
Durango State is situated in the center-northwestern region of Mexico. The weather is warm and dry, but it is temperate and humid during the rainy season (INEGI, 2019). It has a surface of 123,181 km 2 , placing it as the fourth largest territory in Mexico (INEGI, 2019 causing weight loss and reduction in milk production (Meisch, 1994).
In spite of the critical economic importance of mosquitoes, investigation into mosquitoes in Durango State have been neglected. In our study, we aimed to document occurrence and distribution of mosquito species in seven localities in La Comarca Lagunera, with the aim to update the checklist of culicid species present in the State, which would facilitate the control strategies performed by the Ministry of Health in this region.
These localities belong to four municipalities (Gómez Palacio, Lerdo, Mapimí and Tlahualilo) of La Comarca Lagunera, northeastern Durango, Mexico, which are included in the physiographical region of Sierras and Northern Plains, subregion Bolsón de Mapimí, which include isolated mountains and wide plains where endorheic basins are common (González Elizondo et al., 2006).
Field work was completed between August and November 2018 in the rainy season following the collecting protocol of Belkin et al. (1967). In this case, available water bodies were sampled using dippers and pipettes, while adult mosquitoes were directly collected from resting places or by landing catches using a field aspirator ( Species were identified using the keys of Wilkerson et al. (1990) and Darsie and Ward (2005). All specimens were deposited at the Culicidae Collection of the UAAAN-UL under

Checklist of the mosquito species in Durango
In order to obtain information about which mosquito species have been previously recorded in Durango, we carried out a literature review in the web pages of "Systematic Catalogue of Culicidae" hosted by the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (www.wrbu.org) (WRBU, 2005), the Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory (Harbach, 2020), and other databases such as PubMed Health, BIOSIS, Medline, Zoological Records, GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and Google Scholar, using keywords such as "records, mosquitoes, Culicidae, Durango State, Mexico". The classification criteria of the Family Culicidae proposed by Wilkerson et al. (2015) was followed in the present study.
This study confirms the presence of these species and add other five (An. franciscanus, An. pseudopunctipennis, Ae. trivittatus, Cx. erythrothorax, and Tx. moctezuma) increasing to 19 the number of taxa found in this region.
In general, An. pseudopunctipennis and Ae. aegypti are the most relevant species from a medical point of view found in this study. Anopheles pseudopunctipennis is one of the main malaria vectors in Mexico (Loyola et al., 1991;Santamarina Mijares et al., 1999), with two and three cases
Durango is the twelfth State where the species is recorded.
Toxorhynchites moctezuma (Dyar and Knab) -This species has a wider distribution, extending from the south of the USA, to Central America (Zavortink and Chaverri, 2009). In Mexico, it has been recorded in the states of Campeche, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Veracruz (Heineman and Belkin, 1977;Mis Ávila et al., 2013;Ortega-Morales et al., 2015, 2019. The larva of Tx. moctezuma can develop in tree holes, bamboo internodes, nut shells, and artificial containers (Zavortink and Chaverri, 2009). Despite the females of Tx. moctezuma which are phytophagous, the species is considered a great biological control due to the predatory behavior of its larva, which feed upon other mosquito species (Collins and Blackwell, 2000). In our study, we collected nine larvae of Tx. moctezuma in a discarded tyre containing rainwater, where six females and three males were obtained.
Based upon the current distribution of Tx. moctezuma (Zavortink and Chaverri, 2009), the records of Tx. theobaldi for the states of Chiapas, Michoacán, Morelos and Yucatán (Díaz-Nájera and Vargas, 1973;Villegas-Trejo et al., 2010) belong to Tx. moctezuma. Therefore, Durango becomes the fifteenth state where this species has been collected and it constitutes its northernmost distribution record in Mexico.
Finally, 13 of the 15 species collected in this study are of medical and veterinary importance.
The current list of mosquitoes present in the state of Durango reaches a total of 38 species. The information generated in this study should be useful for the Secretary of Health of the State of Durango, Mexico, specifically for the region of La Comarca Lagunera.