AVMS

Oc japonicus
 

FIRST REPORT OF OCHLEROTATUS JAPONICUS IN ALABAMA

The first documented occurrence of the mosquito Ochlerotatus japonicus in Alabama was reported in Jackson County by Kristy Gottfried, medical entomologist with the Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL.  A single adult female was collected in a gravid trap on June 21, 2005, on Raccoon Creek near the Guntersville Reservoir.

This Asian mosquito was first detected in the United States in New York and New Jersey in 1998.  Since that time it has spread to southern New England and southward to Georgia and Tennessee, and now into the extreme northeastern part of Alabama.

Ochlerotatus japonicus breeds in a wide range of natural and artificial containers, including water-filled tree holes and tires.  The larvae closely resemble Aedes atropalpus, whereas the adults are more easily distinguished from other container-breeding species (see accompanying article on how to recognize Oc. japonicus adults).  This mosquito does not generally attack humans and is not readily attracted to light traps.  However it represents a potential vector of West Nile virus (WNV), based on experimental vector-competence studies conducted at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, MD.  It may be a significant vector of WNV in the transmission cycle among wild birds.

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2008 Alabama Vector Management Society
Last modified: 02/04/08