author(s)
P. Suganthi, M. Govindaraju, V. Thenmozhi and B. K. Tyagi

abstract
Mosquitoes are having high capacity to transmit pathogens (parasites and virus) to humans causing mosquito-borne diseases. This is a major public health problem in most of tropical and subtropical countries. Its control is becoming more and more difficult due to the spread of resistance of the vector. The study was conducted to estimate the mosquito larval density, diversity and preference breeding sites of Aedes, Culex and Anopheles mosquito species in Sitheri hills, Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu, India. Larval samples were collected by dipping method using pipette dipper depending on container types for all seasons of the year 2012. The collected larvae were raised to adults for identification. A total of 460 water containers were inspected in eight villages. The study confirm the presence of eight dominant mosquito species in the study area namely Aedes aegypti (45%), Aedes vittatus (23%) Aedes albopictus (15%), Culex quinquefasciatus (9%), Anopheles subpictus (4%),Culex gelidus (2%),Culex nilgricus (1%)andCulex tritaeniorhynchus (1%). It’s observed that the major breeding sources are mud pot, grinding stone, cement cistern, metal vessels, tree hole, rocky hole, stagnant water lock area, rice field, waste tyre, cement tank, canal and plastic container. The present study concludes that the species of Aedes aegypti and Aedes vittatus was most predominant container breeding mosquitoes and the villages of Sitheri and Selur having more number of mosquito larvae populations in the study area. The study is useful for creating awareness and control of mosquito-borne diseases and its breeding sites.