Protists in general comprise about one-third of the parasitic species infecting arthropod vectors, the role of free-living and epibiotic ciliates on mosquitoes have been insufficiently studied either due to their low pathogenicity or facultative parasites. Studies have shown that exposure of Paramecium ciliate protists, like Vorticella species, to first instar Culex nigripalpus Theobald, larvae delayed larval development and reduced biomass of emerged adults due to competition for food sources like bacteria and other microbes essential to mosquito growth and survival. Thus, we report on the capacity of a Vorticella sp. protist's ability to cross-infect host species and parasitize multiple mosquito larvae. The unique adapted behavior with the ability to remain on the exuviae in tree hole habitats provide a novel delivery system to develop products for target species-specific mosquitocides, larvicides, or viricides to be applied and sustained in aquatic systems.

Mosquito and arbovirus surveillance is essential to the protection of public health. A majority of surveys are undertaken at ground level. However, mosquitoes shelter, breed, and quest for hosts across vertical strata, thus limiting our ability to fully describe mosquito and arboviral communities. To elucidate patterns of mosquito vertical stratification, canopy traps were constructed to sample mosquitoes at heights of 1.5, 5.0, and 8.7 m across three different landscape types in a Florida coastal conservation area. We assessed trapping efforts using individual-based rarefaction and extrapolation. The effects of height, landscape, site location, and sampling date on mosquito community composition were parsed out using permutational ANOVA on a Hellinger-transformed Bray–Curtis dissimilarity abundance matrix. Lastly, a generalized linear mixed effects model (GLMM) was used to explore species-specific vertical patterns. We observed differences in sampling effort and community composition structure across various heights and landscapes. Our GLMM revealed significant effects of trap height for Aedes taeniorhynchus, Anopheles crucians, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, and Culex coronator, but not for Culex nigripalpus, the ultra-dominant species present in this area. Together these data provide evidence that height and landscape significantly affect mosquito community structures and highlight a need to develop sampling regimes to target specific vector and nuisance species at their preferred height and across different landscape types.