SPREAD OF AEDES-ALBOPICTUS AND DECLINE OF AEDES-AEGYPTI (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) IN FLORIDA

Waste tires and other types of artificial containers were sampled for immature Aedes to monitor changes in the occurrence of Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Florida. The initial invasion and spread of Ae. albopictus in Florida occurred in the northern part of Florida. Throughout this region, major declines in the abundance of Ae. aegypti have been associated with the expansion of Ae. albopictus in both urban and rural areas. Generally, the same results have occurred in central Florida, but at some urban locations AE. aegypti has remained a common mosquito long after the arrival of Ae. albopictus. In southeastern Florida, Ae. aegypti is currently the dominant container-inhabiting Aedes in urban areas, whereas sites dominated by Ae. albopictus are in rural settings or in undeveloped tracts of land within urban or suburban areas. At some locations, immature Ae. albopictus were found in the same containers with another exotic mosquito, Ae. bahamensis Berlin. The persistence of thriving Ae. aegypti populations in urban areas of southern Florida indicates that Ae. albopictus might not become the dominant container Aedes in these habitats, at least not to the extent that it has in the northern part of the state.