UMR MIVEGEC (IRD 224 - CNRS 5290 - Université de Montpellier), 911 Avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier, France.
Department of Control of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Public Health, Str. "Aleksandër Moisiu" No. 80, 1010 Tirana, Albania.
Parasite. 2019;26:55. doi: 10.1051/parasite/2019053. Epub 2019 Sep 6.
The rapid spread and settlement of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes across at least 28 countries in Europe, as well as several countries in Asia Minor, the Middle East and Africa, has made it one of the most invasive species of all time. Even though the biology of Ae. albopictus in its native tropical environment has been documented for a long time, the biology and ecology of this species in newly colonized temperate environments remain poorly known despite its important role as a vector for about twenty arboviruses. In this context, the main goals of this work were to investigate Ae. albopictus phenotypic variations at a local scale in Albania, the country where Ae. albopictus was first recorded in Europe, and to determine if its phenotypes could be affected by altitude. Analysis of Ae. albopictus wing phenotypes was performed using a geometric morphometric approach. We observed shape and size variations among altitudinal populations of Ae. albopictus. Differences of wing phenotypes were highlighted between altitude groups for male and female mosquitoes. The phenotypic variations observed in Ae. albopictus between altitudinal groups indicated these populations are exposed to environmental and ecological pressures. These results suggest the presence of phenotypic plasticity in this species.
白纹伊蚊已迅速扩散并在欧洲至少 28 个国家以及小亚细亚、中东和非洲的几个国家定居，成为有史以来最具侵略性的物种之一。尽管白纹伊蚊在其原生热带环境中的生物学特性已经有很长时间的记录，但该物种在新殖民的温带环境中的生物学和生态学仍然知之甚少，尽管它是大约 20 种虫媒病毒的重要载体。在这种情况下，这项工作的主要目标是在阿尔巴尼亚（该国有记录表明白纹伊蚊首次出现在欧洲）的地方范围内调查白纹伊蚊的表型变异，并确定其表型是否可能受到海拔的影响。我们使用几何形态测量方法对白纹伊蚊的翅膀表型进行了分析。我们观察到白纹伊蚊在海拔种群之间的形状和大小变化。在雄性和雌性蚊子中，翼表型的差异在不同海拔组之间被强调。在不同海拔组的白纹伊蚊之间观察到的表型变异表明这些种群受到环境和生态压力的影响。这些结果表明该物种存在表型可塑性。
