Pest Management Science (2020) 76, 4202-4209

Thomas L. Schmidt, Jessica Chung, Anthony R. van Rooyen, Angus Sly, Andrew R. Weeks and Ary A. Hoffmann (2020)
Incursion pathways of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) into Australia contrast sharply with those of the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti)
Pest Management Science 76 (12), 4202-4209
Abstract:
BACKGROUND
Understanding pest incursion pathways is critical for preventing new invasions and for stopping the transfer of alleles that reduce the efficacy of local control methods. The mosquitoes Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Ae. aegypti (Linnaeus) are both highly invasive disease vectors, and through a series of ongoing international incursions are continuing to colonize new regions and spread insecticide resistance alleles among established populations. This study uses high-resolution molecular markers and a set of 241 reference genotypes to trace incursion pathways of Ae. albopictus into mainland Australia, where no successful invasions have yet been observed. We contrast these results with incursion pathways of Ae. aegypti, investigated previously.
RESULTS
Assignments successfully identified China, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan as source locations. Incursion pathways of Ae. albopictus were entirely different to those of Ae. aegypti, despite broad sympatry of these species throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Incursions of Ae. albopictus appeared to have come predominantly along marine routes from key trading locations, while Ae. aegypti was mostly linked to aerial routes from tourism hotspots.
CONCLUSION
These results demonstrate how genomics can help decipher otherwise cryptic incursion pathways. The inclusion of reference genotypes from the Americas may help resolve some unsuccessful assignments. While many congeneric taxa will share common incursion pathways, this study highlights that this is not always the case, and incursion pathways of important taxa should be specifically investigated. Species differences in aerial and marine incursion rates may reflect the efficacy of ongoing control programmes such as aircraft disinsection.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Ary A. Hoffmann, Thomas L. Schmidt

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
new introduction of pest
population dynamics/ epidemiology

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes albopictus
	Aedes aegypti