Florida Medical Entomological Laboratory, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Vero Beach, FL 32962, USA.
Institute of Life Science and Natural Resources, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea.
J Med Entomol. 2023 Nov 14;60(6):1305-1313. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjad116.
Aedes koreicus (Edward, 1917) (Diptera: Culicidae), a mosquito species native to East Asia, has spread to parts of Europe and Central Asia since 2008. The species shares ecological characteristics with Aedes japonicus (Theobald, 1901) (Diptera: Culicidae), which has already successfully invaded and established in North America and Europe. Given these similarities, it is plausible that Ae. koreicus may also invade North America in the future. However, the invasion of Ae. koreicus may be masked or have delayed detection due to their similar morphologies with Ae. japonicus. This study highlights the potential risks of invasion of Ae. koreicus into North America, especially in the northeastern United States, and for further expansion in Europe. We used the maximum entropy model to identify areas with a high likelihood of presence in North America and Europe using comprehensive occurrence records from East Asia, Central Asia, and Europe. We have identified 15 additional countries in Europe and 7 states in the United States that will likely have suitable environments for Ae. koreicus. Additionally, we reviewed the morphological characteristics of Ae. koreicus and Ae. japonicus and provided morphological keys to distinguish the 2 species. Morphological results contradicting previous studies suggested that finding the origin by morphological comparison between Ae. koreicus populations may need re-evaluation. The information presented here will be useful for researchers and public health professionals in high-risk areas to be informed about morphological characteristics to distinguish Ae. koreicus from similar-looking Ae. japonicus. These tools will allow more careful monitoring of the potential introduction of this highly invasive species.
韩国伊蚊（爱德华，1917）（双翅目：蚊科），一种原产于东亚的蚊子物种，自 2008 年以来已传播到欧洲和中亚的部分地区。该物种与已经成功入侵并在北美和欧洲建立的日本伊蚊（Theobald，1901）（双翅目：蚊科）具有相似的生态特征。鉴于这些相似性，未来韩国伊蚊也有可能入侵北美。然而，由于其与日本伊蚊相似的形态，韩国伊蚊的入侵可能被掩盖或延迟发现。本研究强调了韩国伊蚊入侵北美的潜在风险，特别是在美国东北部地区，以及在欧洲进一步扩张的风险。我们使用最大熵模型，利用东亚、中亚和欧洲的综合出现记录，确定了在北美和欧洲存在的高可能性区域。我们在欧洲又确定了 15 个国家，在美国又确定了 7 个州，这些国家和州可能有适合韩国伊蚊生存的环境。此外，我们还回顾了韩国伊蚊和日本伊蚊的形态特征，并提供了形态特征鉴别这两种蚊子的关键方法。与之前研究结果相矛盾的形态学结果表明，通过对韩国伊蚊种群进行形态比较来确定其起源可能需要重新评估。这里提供的信息将有助于高风险地区的研究人员和公共卫生专业人员了解形态特征，以便将韩国伊蚊与看起来相似的日本伊蚊区分开来。这些工具将有助于更仔细地监测这种高度入侵性物种的潜在引入。
