Scientists Find New Invasive Mosquito Species In Florida

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 NOEL KING, HOST:

All right, now we've some news of an unwelcome scientific discovery. Researchers have identified a replacement species of mosquito in Florida. It's known to hold several diseases, including yellow jack. Here's NPR's Greg Allen.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The lifetime of a mosquito researcher isn't a glamorous one, but Lawrence Reeves likes it.


LAWRENCE REEVES: Yeah. I feel it's really cool. I'm an enormous nerd for these things.

LINDSAY CAMPBELL: (Laughter).

REEVES: So it's very easy to gather mosquitoes.

ALLEN: Reeves may be a research scientist with the University of Florida. And his collaborator is entomologist Lindsay Campbell. a method you collect mosquitoes is with a vacuum.

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ALLEN: during a video he recorded, Reeves traipses through the undergrowth.

REEVES: It's quite like "Ghostbusters." You go around within the field sucking up mosquitoes with these vacuums. then you finish up with a bag of hundreds or thousands of mosquitoes that you simply need to sift through to spot.

ALLEN: Sifting through mosquitoes collected near Everglades park, Reeves spotted some that he hadn't seen before. Examining them under a microscope then analyzing their DNA, he realized they were a species new Florida, one called Aedes scapularis. Up to now, they have been found mostly within the Caribbean and Latin America. In Brazil, Reeves says, the mosquitoes are infected with a variety of diseases.

REEVES: Things like Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus, yellow jack virus, and a couple of others.

ALLEN: it has been quite a century since there was a yellow jack outbreak within the U.S. And although they're infected, it isn't clear if Aedes scapularis mosquitoes spread the diseases. But as outbreaks of Zika and dengue have shown in Florida, new mosquitoes can bring new diseases. The species is already established here, and a study suggests it's going to spread north along Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

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And there are other things about Aedes scapularis that are worrisome. it is a mosquito that likes going indoors and feeds on both wildlife and other people. Campbell says that's not good.

CAMPBELL: If you finish up with a species that's capable of transmitting to bats and likes to also bite humans, that is the prime condition for a spillover event.

ALLEN: Scientists believe the COVID-19 pandemic may be a result of such a spillover event involving bats or another animal species. global climate change, international travel, and global trade also are factors. Ten new species of non-native mosquitoes are found in Florida since 2000. And Reeves says more are on the way.

REEVES: There's one especially immediately that tons of individuals are worrying about, Aedes vittatus, which is quite an old-world vector for just about everything that we're worried about - dengue, chikungunya, Zika.

ALLEN: Originally from India, Aedes vittatus mosquitoes have now been found in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.

Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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