A new invasive species of mosquitoes known to carry viruses, including yellow fever, has been discovered in Florida, scientists have warned.
He Aedes scapularis Mosquitoes have been confirmed in two South Florida counties – Miami-Dade and Broward – but are now at risk of spreading along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida, according to a study co-authored by Lawrence Reeves, entomologist and researcher at the University of Florida.
So far, the insects have been found mainly in the Caribbean and Latin America, NPR reported.
In Brazil, they have been found infected with “several diseases,” such as the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the yellow fever virus, according to Reeves.
It is unclear whether the species affected by the disease actually spread the viruses they carry, but as mosquito-borne disease outbreaks (more recently dengue) have appeared in Florida, researchers say the discovery is important.
Lindsay Campbell, who co-authored the study with Reeves, said it is known that Aedes scapularis mosquitoes like to go indoors, and feed on both wildlife and people.
This is worrisome because species capable of being transmitted between animals, including bats, and humans, create “the main condition for an overflow event,” Campbell told NPR.
Scientists investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic said last month that the virus “probably” originated in bats.
Reeves first identified himself Aedes scapularis in 2019 among the mosquitoes he collected near the Everglades National Park in South Florida.
In a follow-up study in November 2020, Reeves found that the species was “established” in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
But his new study, co-authored with Campell, suggests that mosquitoes will continue to spread north.
Reeves pointed this out as well Aedes scapularis is one of ten new species of invasive mosquitoes found in Florida since 2000, due to factors such as climate change, international travel and world trade.
He predicts there are more troubling species along the way.
“It simply came to our notice then Aedes vittatus. [It] it’s a kind of vector for almost everything we care about: dengue, chikungunya, Zika, ”he told NPR.
Aedes vittatus is native to India, but has been found just 90 miles south of the Florida coast in Cuba.