Aedes aegypti
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| Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) |
Aedes aegypti, commonly known as the Yellow Fever Mosquito, is a mosquito that can host the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses (and other diseases as well). One group of researchers recently proposed that A. aegypti be renamed Stegomyia aegypti (Reinert et al. 2004), but this proposal has yet to be widely accepted by the scientific community. This species was also formerly known as Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti. Aedes aegypti is considered the primary vector for both dengue and yellow fever. The mosquito can be recognized by white markings, although other mosquitoes may have only slightly different patterns. The mosquito is most frequently found in the tropics; it has some presence in the southeastern part of the US (such as the lower half of Florida), but it seems to have been competitively displaced by the introduction of Aedes albopictus.
The CDC traveler's page on preventing dengue fever suggests using mosquito repellents that contain N, N-diethylmetatoluamide (DEET). Presumably this has some effectiveness in repelling A. aegypti. The CDC traveler's page also explains the following:
1) Although it may feed at any time, the mosquito bites humans only between a few hours after dawn till an hour or so after sunset.
2) The mosquito's preferred breeding areas are in areas of stagnant water, such as flower vases, uncovered barrels, buckets, and discarded tires, but the most dangerous areas are wet shower floors and toilet bowls, as they allow the mosquitos to breed right in the residence.
[edit] External links
- VectorBase homepage for Aedes aegypti (genome browser, downloads and more)
- A page that has an image of Aedes aegypti
- Aedes aegypti page from University of Sydney, Australia
- Aedes aegypti and Dengue fever
- United States CDC page on dengue fever containing information on prevalence of Aedes aegypti worldwide and past efforts to eradicate it
[edit] References
- Reinert, J.F., Harbach, R.E. and Kitching, I.J. 2004. Phylogeny and classification of Aedini (Diptera: Culicidae), based on morphological characters of all life stages. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 142: 289-368.
