A new invasive species of mosquito known to carry viruses, including yellow fever, has been discovered in Florida, scientists have warned.
Aedes scapularis mosquitoes have been confirmed in two South Florida counties – Miami-Dade and Broward – but are now at risk of spreading along Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts, according to a study co-authored by Lawrence Reeves, an 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 were found infected with “a number of diseases,” such as the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the yellow fever virus, Reeves said.
It is unclear whether the disease-affected species actually spread the viruses they carry, but as mosquito-borne disease outbreaks – most recently dengue fever – have emerged in Florida, researchers say the discovery is important.
Lindsay Campbell, who co-authored the study with Reeves, said it was known that Aedes scapularis mosquitoes like to go indoors – and feed on both wild animals and humans.
This is worrying because species that are able to transmit between animals, including bats, and humans create “the prerequisite for an overflow event,” Campbell told NPR.
Scientists investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic said last month that the “most likely” virus came from bats.
Reeves identified himself first Aedes scapularis in 2019 among the mosquitoes he gathered near the Everglades National Park in South Florida.
In a November 2020 follow-up study, Reeves found that the species is “established” in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
His new study, in collaboration with Campell, suggests that mosquitoes will continue to spread north.
Reeves also noted that Aedes scapularis is one of 10 new species of invasive mosquitoes that have been found in Florida since 2000, due to factors such as climate change, international travel and global trade.
He predicts that there are several worrying species on the way.
“A lot of people are worried Aedes vittatus. [It] it’s a kind of vector for almost everything we worry about: dengue, chikungunya, Zika, “he told NPR.
Aedes vittatus is native to India, but was found just 90 miles south of the Florida coast of Cuba.