The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Kosovo: First record

Abstract

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an invasive mosquito species that is considered a potential vector of about 22 arboviruses, among which dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Here we report the first record of Aedes albopictus in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. The first finding, in July 2020, was driven by a photo of an adult mosquito published by a citizen in social media. The subsequent field investigation in July 2020 confirmed the presence of adult mosquitoes by human landing catch and collection of eggs in ovitraps at the village Zhur. Monitoring was performed for 7 weeks with ovitraps and BG-Sentinel adult traps at 36 sampling stations from 7 localities, in the Southern part of Kosovo, on the border with Albania. Fifty-two out of 81 ovitrap samples resulted positive for the presence of Ae. albopictus. A total of 2,711 eggs are collected in 22 out 36 stations and a total of 78 adults from 4 out 4 stations with BG Sentinel trap and 15 adults with handled electric aspirator. Our finding shows that the tiger mosquito is expanding its geographical range in the Balkans, southeastern Europe.