Join NY IPM's Matt Frye on Wednesday for a Business Booster webinar presented by Xcluder. Frye will share time-tested exclusion techniques that can be used as part of a comprehensive rodent control program.
VERO BEACH, Fla. – A new mosquito species capable of transmitting disease, Aedes scapularis, has arrived in Florida and shows signs it could survive across multiple urban and rural habitats, posing a potential public health risk.
In a new study from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), scientists predict where in Florida environmental conditions may be suitable for this new species to spread, now that it has invaded the Florida peninsula.
This new, nonnative mosquito the team discovered and announced last November can transmit yellow fever virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, dog heartworm and other pathogens to humans and animals. It has a wide range, from Texas to parts of South America and throughout much of the Caribbean. The species is widespread in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Researchers say it has also turned up in Broward County.
“The reporting of the Aedes scapularis can be of great medical and veterinary importance, as these mosquitoes are vectors of disease such as yellow fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and dog heartworm,” Research Director Chalmers Vasquez said in a statement. “This also highlights the importance of South Florida as the point of entry of invasive species that might eventually lead to outbreaks of mosquito-transmitted diseases in our population.”
The Aedes scapularis mosquito was previously only known in Florida from three specimens collected in the Florida Keys in 1945.
Experts say it is found in much of tropical America, from central South America to northern Mexico and extreme southern Texas, as well as a few Caribbean islands.