Mosquitoes of southern England and northern Wales: identification, ecology and host selection

As early as 1901, ecological and epidemiological studies were conducted to understand
malaria transmission in the UK. Unfortunately, following the eradication of malaria after
WWII, ecological studies on local mosquito species has been intermittent, leading to a
significant gap in knowledge of the current habitat preference, distribution and vector
capabilities of the 33 recorded species. This lack of current information makes the assessment
of possible transmission of enzoonotic diseases such as Chikungunya and West Nile virus in
UK difficult. Thus the overall purpose of this thesis was to facilitate the identification of
potential vector species through the documentation and characterisation of the ecology of
adult and larval stages, and the host selection of British mosquitoes, in southern England and
northern Wales.

A total of 13 out the 33 documented species are assessed in this study. Of which members
of the Maculipennis and Pipiens Group comprised the bulk of the adult and immature
collections respectively. The development of the ITS2 PCR-RFLP assay in this study allowed
the identification of the three members of the Maculipennis Group, which revealed the
widespread occurrence of the recently documented An. daciae in almost all localities sampled.
While previously published assays discriminating the Pipiens Complex, did not yield
congruent results questioning the prior identification methods and the validity of the
taxonomic status of its members. In addition, host-specific primers designed herein to
determine host selection in local mosquitoes revealed an indiscriminate host selection by An.
atroparvus, An. daciae, An. messeae and Cx. pipiens thus indicating their potential role as
vectors in the UK.