Asian Tiger Mosquito
Aedes albopictus
Summary 6
The Asian tiger mosquito or forest day mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Stegomyia albopicta), from the mosquito family Culicidae, is characterized by its black and white striped legs, and small black and white body. It is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of Southeast Asia; however, in the past couple of decades this species has invaded many countries throughout the world through the transport of goods and increasing international travel. This mosquito has become a significant pest...
Economic importance for humans: negative 7
Aedes albopictus acts as a parasite and a vector to a large variety of other species. Mosquitoes have a wide range of species they can feed upon. After being bitten by a mosquito, a host will become irritated in that spot due to a typical immune response against mosquito saliva. When feeding on a host, the species can pass on one of many different arboviruses, along with protzoans and filarial nematodes. Aedes albopictus is a known vector of dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis among many more. Mosquitoes are known to have caused outbreaks of Chikungunya Fever in both France and Italy. It is also notorious for vectoring parasitic roundworms Dirofilaria immitis, which cause heartworm in domestic dogs and cats. Because of the large number of pathogens Aedes albopictus carries and its ability to inhabit much of the world throughout the year, mosquitoes spread significant amounts of disease.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (bites or stings, carries human disease); causes or carries domestic animal disease
Sources and Credits
- (c) Oscar Mendez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskar87jk/7846510658/
- (c) Camponotus Vagus, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/65645208@N05/5999100304/
- (c) Camponotus Vagus, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/65645208@N05/5998557101/
- (c) AFPMB, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/afpmb/4604197670/
- (c) Marcello Consolo, all rights reserved, http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelloconsolo/8732684124/
- Adapted by Scott Loarie from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18630639
More Info
iNat Map
| Diseases | dengue |
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