Another new mosquito species has made its way across the tropics into Florida, establishing itself in at least three counties.
Mosquito biologist Lawrence Reeves is the lead author of a report on the newly-discovered species, published Wednesday in the Journal of Medical Entomology.
The mosquito — known by its scientific name of Culex lactator — is typically found in Central and northern South America. Researchers with the University of Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory first discovered it in a rural area near Miami in 2018, reports NPR.org.
This group includes important species that transmit the West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses. Every year, Florida faces challenges from mosquito-transmitted diseases like West Nile virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and others.
Since that time, thriving populations have been recorded in Miami-Dade, Collier, and Lee counties. It’s not yet known to what extent the invasive mosquito is a risk to our health and to wildlife, but scientists are concerned there hasn’t been enough research on the species.
There are about 90 mosquito species living in Florida, and that list is growing as new mosquito species are introduced to the state from elsewhere in the world,” said Reeves, who is also an assistant professor and mosquito biologist at the UF/IFAS research center in Vero Beach.
It is almost impossible to know exactly how this particular invader was brought into Florida. Scientists say climate change appears to be a factor that’s making the state and other parts of the U.S. welcoming to non-native mosquitoes that can carry diseases.
“It’s too early to know whether Culex lactator will exacerbate these challenges, but the implications are often difficult to predict because not all mosquito species are equally capable of transmitting a particular virus or another pathogen,” said Reeves.
Eleven of the 17 non-native mosquitoes in Florida were discovered in the past two decades, with six of those detected in the last five years. The deadliest mosquitoes found in the U.S., Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus are all non-native species introduced from the tropics.
Reeves says, “We need to be vigilant for introductions of new mosquito species because each introduction comes with the possibility that the introduced species will facilitate the transmission of a mosquito-transmitted disease.”
