Abstract
Ranaviruses are worldwide pathogens of ectothermic vertebrates that can threaten herptile conservation efforts. Identifying transmission routes is critical for understanding disease ecology and promoting species conservation. Frog virus 3 (FV3) DNA was detected in mosquitoes during a ranavirus outbreak in semicaptive box turtles, but the role that insect vectors play under natural conditions is unknown. To address this knowledge gap, we collected mosquito species known to take blood meals from reptiles and amphibians ( Aedes canadensis, Culex erraticus, Culex territans, and Uranotaenia sapphirina) from mid-May to early August, 2014, at four study sites in Vermilion County, Illinois, two of which had historic or ongoing FV3 outbreaks in box turtles and amphibians. Mosquitoes were batched by date and species, DNA was extracted, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed for detection of FV3. FV3 was not detected despite one of the sites having an active FV3 outbreak during the study period. Our findings indicate that FV3 detection is uncommon in mosquitoes during outbreak and nonoutbreak conditions at these sites in Illinois. Thus, we cannot establish that mosquitoes contribute to transmission during natural mortality events without performing further studies.
Highlights
FIG. 1.--Adult of Aedesaegypti. (From photograph,lent by the U.S Public Health Service,of model in the American Museum of Natural History.)
TO ALL OF US WHO LIVE IN ILLINOIS, mos- of theirlife histories.All of them,howeverh, avemany quitoesarefamiliaraspeststhat attackpersonsandlive- characters and habits in common
To date,mosquitoeosf 55 differentspecieshavebeen mating,the femaleslay eggseither on the surfaceof taken in Illinois
Summary
Neighboringstatesfrom situationssimilar to thosein Eggslaid on thewaterhatchin a few days;eachsmall this state,may alsooccurin Illinois and are includedin larva emergesdirectlyinto the water from the end of thissynopsis.These speciesa,longwith severalhun- the eggthatsticksinto it. This paper is printed by authority of the State of Illinois, IRS Ch. 127, Par. 58.22 It is a contribution from the Section of raunistic Surveys and Insect Identification of the Illinois Natural History Survey. At the head of each section there is on the dorsumof the thorax (Fig. 2). The adult has a proboscist;he male doesnot bite but Information concerningdistribution and habitat is sucksup nectarand free water;the femalesuckseither includedin the keys. An adultof the family Culicidae(Fig. 1), to which Headwith no proboscism, outhpartfsormingonlyshort the mosquitoebselong,canbe differentiatedfrom other fleshylobesthatarenolongerthandepthof head. Tip of abdomenblunt or pointedand havingonly unsegmentedlobes(the cerci)projectingfrom it (Fig. females infirmatusDyar & Knab mitchellae (Dyar) nigromaculi(sLudlow) punctor(Kirby) sollicitans(Walker). Mesoscutellumwith posteriormargin incised to form a mesal lobe and 2 lateral lobes, with the palp --
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