The Korean mosquito that does not fear the cold is now launched to conquer Northern Italy: reported for the first time in 2011 in Belluno, it is increasingly widespread also in Lombardy, where it is not excluded that it may have arrived on board the international flights of the Orio al Serio airport. This was revealed by a research conducted by the University of Milan, published in the journal Parasites & Vectors.
During the summer of 2020, during a surveillance program of sites at risk of introducing new invasive mosquitoes between the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, the researchers collected about 6,000 larvae and hundreds of mosquito eggs from collections of water (such as small ponds, artificial tubs and containers).
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Many of these mosquitoes have been identified as belonging to the Aedes koreicus species, probably originating from the population of the South Korean volcanic island of the Jeju District. “The Korean mosquito is endemic to Japan, northern China, South Korea and parts of Russia,” explains Sara Epis, professor at the Department of Biosciences and research coordinator. “It was reported for the first time in Italy in 2011 in the province of Belluno, at altitudes and climatic conditions unsuitable for the survival of most species of mosquitoes. Since then the reports in northern Italy have increased. We emphasize that this mosquito, a unlike the known ‘sisters’ of the Aedes genus, such as the tiger mosquito, it tolerates low temperatures very well, so much so that it has already colonized a large hilly-mountainous area of Veneto and Trentino “.
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