Asian Tiger Mosquito

1. Asian Tiger Mosquito (Aedes albopictus)

2. Physical Characteristics • The Asian tiger mosquito is a small black and white mosquito, about 1/4-inch long. • The name "tiger mosquito" comes from its white and black color pattern. • It has a white stripe running down the center of its head and back with white bands on the legs.

3. THE BITE • An aggressive outdoor daytime feeder • It has an extremely painful bite. • In areas where they can maintain dense populations these mosquitoes drive people indoors.

4. Habitat • In Southeast Asia, where it originated, the mosquito lived on forest edges in tree holes and other natural reservoirs. • However, it has adapted to human settlement and now chooses to live where there are pots, vases, buckets, and tires.

5. Life Cycle

6. Definitions from Lifecycle • Metamorphosis: a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism • Larva: The immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis • Pupa: an insect in the non-feeding, usually immobile, transformation stage between the larva and the imago. • Imago: an adult insect.

7. Reproduction • Lays eggs singly above the water level on the sides of a variety of containers that serve as breeding habitat . • Relies on rainfall to raise the water level in the container and inundate the eggs for hatching. • 150-250 eggs per oviposition. • 1-4 ovipositions per female. • Breeding populations present from June- September.

8. Introduction to the U.S. • The tiger mosquitoes imported into the U.S. probably came from Japan. • It came from Japan by means of modern boat shipping in the 1980’s.

9. How Did It Survive?? A Chicago Winter • Asian Tiger Mosquitoes were able to survive cold winters. • The eggs respond to shortening of days by going into a state of dormancy called diapause. • Many other tropical mosquitoes lack this ability, which is an advantage over other mosquitoes. It can survive in the harshest of winters i.e. Chicago, IL

10. Distribution in U.S. of Tiger Mosquito

11. National Distribtution of Tiger Mosquito

12. Ecological Impact • The same ecological characteristics that make the tiger mosquito a successful invader also make it difficult to control. • Not only can the mosquito carry many diseases, it’s also not too discerning in its feeding habits, able to suck blood from a rat at one moment and a human at the next. • As a ‘tree-hole’ breeder, it seeks small, obscure and easily overlooked places to lay its eggs. • It fits in easily to the urban environment which offers many such locations. • Additionally, a large proportion of such habitat may be on private property out of reach of public health officials.

13. Human Impact • The Tiger Mosquito carries ONLY primate diseases such as: • Dengue: This infectious disease is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains and rashes. • Chikungunya: Reported symptoms include fever, chills, headache, rash and severe joint pain with or without swelling. Chikungunya Disease Dengue Disease

14. Prevention & Control Efforts Breeding Site for Tiger Mosquito • Dump any standing water sources such as: tires and litter. • For standing water sources such as bird baths, just add vegetable oil to suffocate the larvae.

15. Conclusion • The Tiger Mosquito is very hard to get rid of once established. • However, since it is an aggressive day feeder no major pesticides can be sprayed, without fear of hurting humans. • So, the only way to help control this invasive insect is to make sure as many standing breeding grounds as possible are destroyed.