Seasonal abundance of Culex restuans and Culex pipiens in southwestern Virginia through ovitrapping.

Ovitrap collections were done to determine the seasonal distribution and ovipositional activity of Culex restuans and Culex pipiens in southwestern Virginia during summers 2002 and 2003. In both years, Cx. restuans was the first species collected and was the dominant species throughout the collecting period. More than 90% of the collections were comprised of Cx. restuans. Two oviposition peaks occurred in both years for Cx. restuans, the first in June and second in the middle of July. Culex pipiens made up less than 7% of the total catch and started to occur in the traps in the middle of the trapping season with a peak occurring in August. Although ovipositional activity began to decline for Cx. restuans, at the end of the trapping period, there was a slight increase in ovipositional activity for Cx. pipiens, but not enough to result in a crossover. A third species, Culex salinarius, was collected in the traps, but the total number of egg rafts accounted for less than 1% of the total collection.