Date: January 9, 2017
Source: University of Florida
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
A University of Florida Institute
of Food and Agricultural Sciences entomologist has found two more non-native
mosquito species in Florida that transmit viruses that cause disease in humans
and wildlife. That makes nine new mosquito species found in Florida in the past
decade.
"The presence of any exotic
mosquito is important from a nuisance, or biting, standpoint," said Nathan
Burkett-Cadena, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of entomology at the UF/IFAS
Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, Florida. "However,
these two species are known to transmit pathogens that affect human and animal
health."
Burkett-Cadena found the mosquito
species Aedeomyia squamipennis and Culex panocossa in Florida City and
Homestead, both in south Miami-Dade County. He and Erik Blosser, a
post-doctoral researcher at the FMEL, were visiting South Florida to collect a
native mosquito species, Culex cedecei,
to investigate its biology and ecology, when they noticed the two non-native
species.
They took samples from several
environments including forests, farms, roadside ditches and even populated
areas using carbon dioxide-baited light traps and vacuums to collect adults and
buckets to collect larvae.
Everglades virus, a type of
encephalitis virus, is found in South Florida, said Burkett-Cadena, and Culex panocossa is known to transmit
encephalitis viruses. Although the new species were found in South Florida,
they will likely spread to North Florida and perhaps neighboring states because
of widespread, suitable larval habitat, particularly water lettuce, he said.
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