Abstract
Species from the Culex coronator complex are Neotropical species and potential vectors of Saint Louis and West Nile viruses. Culex coronator was first described in Trinidad and Tobago in the early twentieth century and since then it has invaded and has been reported established in most countries of the Americas. Species from the Culex coronator complex were first detected in the United States in the state of Louisiana in 2004 and were subsequently detected in Florida in 2005, reaching Miami-Dade County in 2008. We hypothesize that species from the Cx. coronator complex are adapting to urban environments in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and are becoming more present and abundant in these areas. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the patterns of the presence and abundance of species from the Cx. coronator complex in the urban areas of Miami-Dade County. Here we used weekly data comprised of 32 CDC traps from 2012 to 2020 and 150 BG-Sentinel traps from 2016 to 2020. A total of 34,146 female mosquitoes from the Cx. coronator complex were collected, 26,138 by CDC traps and 8008 by BG-Sentinel traps. While the number of CDC traps that were positive was relatively constant at 26–30 positive traps per year, the number of positive BG-Sentinel traps varied substantially from 50 to 87 positive traps per year. Furthermore, the heat map and logistic general linear model for repeated measures analyses showed a significant increase in both the distribution and abundance of mosquitoes from the Cx. coronator complex, indicating that these species are becoming more common in anthropized habitats being able to thrive in highly urbanized areas. The increase in the distribution and abundance of species from the Cx. coronator complex is a major public health concern. The ability of species from the Cx. coronator complex to benefit from urbanization highlights the need to better understand the mechanisms of how invasive vector mosquito species are adapting and exploiting urban habitats.
Highlights
Vector-borne diseases pose a major threat to public h ealth[1,2,3]
From the 32 CDC traps in the surveillance system, species from the Cx. coronator complex were collected by a minimum of 26 traps and a maximum of 30 traps in a given year
Our results indicate that despite having only recently been detect in Miami-Dade, species from the Cx. coronator complex are increasing their range and abundance in urban areas of the county, and even though they are not as abundant and widespread as Ae. aegypti or Cx. quinquefasciatus, they should be considered in future mosquito control interventions (Table 2)
Summary
Vector-borne diseases pose a major threat to public h ealth[1,2,3]. Currently, arbovirus outbreaks are becoming more frequent worldwide. The increase in the incidence of vector-borne diseases can be partially attributed to the increase in presence, abundance, and distribution of vector mosquito species in urban areas[10,11]. These species often have a great potential to invade and colonize new areas and greatly benefit from biotic homogenization processes and biodiversity loss caused by urbanization[12,13,14]. Species from the Culex coronator complex have an unknown epidemiological role in the transmission of arboviruses to humans They have been found to be competent vectors of W NV28,29 and are considered potential vectors of SLEV30,31. Even though the invasion of species from the Cx. coronator complex is well documented in the United States, the mechanisms (e.g., changes in their ecology and behavior, adaptation to local artificial aquatic habitats and resources, etc.) employed on their invasion, establishment, and colonization of new areas remain largely unknown
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