Abstract
Uranotaenia unguiculata is a thermophilic mosquito species frequently occurring in the Mediterranean. Its first detection in the southern German Upper Rhine Valley in 1994 represented its northernmost distribution limit for a long time. During recent mosquito monitoring activities, two specimens of the species were trapped at different localities, about 70 km apart, in northeastern Germany, some 300-km latitude north of previous collection sites. It is not known whether Ur. unguiculata is vector-competent for disease agents although specimens collected in the field were found infected with West Nile virus and Dirofilaria repens. The finding of the species in northern Germany is probably a further example of mosquito species spreading northwards as a consequence of climate warming.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Oliver Tauchmann and Fermin Georgio Lorenzen-Schmidt for technical assistance in the laboratory, and to the supporters attending the mosquito traps.
Funding
This work was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), grant number 2819104115.
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During the production process of the article, larval collections carried out at the more northern of the two trapping sites in mid-October 2017, i.e. one year after the described trapping of the two U. unguiculata adults, also contained U. unguiculata specimens. This finding suggests that even if the trapping of the two adults were the result of accidental displacement of single individuals, and establishment, including overwintering, has probably been accomplished.
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Tippelt, L., Walther, D. & Kampen, H. The thermophilic mosquito species Uranotaenia unguiculata Edwards, 1913 (Diptera: Culicidae) moves north in Germany. Parasitol Res 116, 3437–3440 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5652-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5652-2