IMPORTANCE OF AEDES (DICEROMYIA) FURCIFER EDWARDS, 1913 (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) AMONG THE ARBOVIRUS POTENTIAL VECTORS, IN THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF THE YELLOW-FEVER, IN THE SUB-SUDANESE SAVANNAS OF IVORY-COAST

Among all the species of Aedes in the subgenera Stegomyia and Diceromy ia, which are potential yellow fever vectors in the sub-Sudanese savan nas of West Africa, Ae. (Dic.) furcifer is the only species in close c ontact with both monkeys and men. This very marked primatophilous beha vior is associated to strong aggressiveness of the females which are f ound both in the villages and in the forest. Then they represent one t hird of all the captured vectors in the forest (canopy and ground leve l) and two third of those captured at the edge of the forest, at the e ntrance of the village. Inside the village, they are practically the o nly selvatic vectors of the yellow fever virus. The adults of Ae. furc ifer are present in the region for about 9 months during the year. The mean relative abundance of aggressive females, per evening, is 7.3 fe males at tree level, 3.5 females at ground level in the forest and at the forest edge, and 1.8 females at the entrance of the village. The y early average proportion of parous females in the population is 55.5 % in the canopy, 56 % at ground level in the forest, 71 % at the forest edge, and 72.5 % in the village. The percentage of parous females tak ing a second blood meal during a trophogonic cycle is markedly higher in the village and at the forest edge than in the forest, either at gr ound level or in the canopy (25-40 % vs 13-23 %). Thus, all the condit ions are met for Ae. furcifer to be a major agent of the epidemiology of yellow fever, among monkeys as well as among humans.