Scientist Finds New Genus of Deadly Mosquitos in Florida

A new genus of mosquitoes has been discovered in Florida by scientists called Aedes scapularis. The mosquitoes were discovered near the Everglades National Park in 2019 by Lawrence Reeves, an entomologist and research scientist with the University of Florida.

He claims it’s simple to collect mosquitoes by using dry ice-baited traps. The traps release carbon dioxide, similar to the odors that attract mosquitoes to humans and other mammals. Hundreds, if not thousands, of mosquitoes are then sifted through by Reeves. “You look at them under a microscope, and kind of, one by one, you sift through them with forceps.”

Through DNA analysis, it was confirmed that it was an Aedes scapularis. Reeves discovered that the species were well-established in two South Florida counties, Miami-Dade and Broward, in a follow-up analysis in 2020. The mosquitoes have only been found in the Caribbean and Latin America so far. According to Reeves, they are infected with a variety of diseases in Brazil, including “things like Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus and a handful of others.”

There hasn’t been a yellow fever epidemic in the United States in over a century. It’s unclear if Aedes scapularis mosquitoes transmit the disease, despite being often infected. However, as the Zika and dengue fever outbreaks in Florida have shown, new mosquitoes will carry new diseases. According to a new study co-authored by Reeves and University of Florida entomologist Lindsay Campbell, mosquitoes spread north along Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

Several other aspects of Aedes scapularis are concerning; it’s a mosquito that prefers to stay indoors and feeds on both birds and humans. “If you end up with a species that can transmit to [birds] and likes to bite humans,” Campbell says, “that’s the prime condition for a spillover event.”

Invasive species spread is aided by climate change, foreign travel, and global trade. Since 2000, ten new species of nonnative mosquitos have been discovered in Florida, according to Reeves. And there will be more. According to Reeves, “There’s one in particular right now that a lot of people are worrying about, Aedes vittatus.”  The mosquito, which originated in India, “is kind of a vector for pretty much everything we’re worried about: dengue, chikungunya, Zika.”

Mosquitoes of the Aedes vittatus species have also been recently discovered in Cuba.