Jountal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 12(3):503-506, 1996 Copyright O 1996 by the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc. DISCOVERY OF AEDES ALBOPICTUS IN GUATEMALA' KAZUKI OGATA''3lNo ANTONIO LOPEZ SAMAYOA' ABSTRACT, Aedes albopictrs was discovered for the first time in Guatemala during June 1995. It was collected in l0 out of 15 localities sampled in and around the community of Puerto Barrios in the Department of Izabal. The location of the positive collections indicates a more rural distribution than Aedes aegypti. Sampling was conducted along the Atlantic Highway up to the capital city to determine the extent of its introduction into the country. Larvae were not found more than 4 km outside of Puerto Barrios. The principal breeding places were rubber tires, glass bottles, and metal drums. Aedes albopicrus (Skuse) is of Asiatic origin and recording their type and location and the and is commonly found in Southeast Asia and collection of mosquito larvae and pupae. About the western Pacific area. In 1985, adults and lar- 5 larvae and pupae from each container were vae were collected in and around the city of taken to the laboratory for identification. After Houston, TX, USA (Sprenger and Wuithirany- the initial discovery of Ae. albopictus in the agool 1986) and the species has since spread to Puerto Barrios area, 3 more visits were made to 23 other states in the USA (Moore et al. 1988, determine the extent of the invasion and to make Estrado-Franco and Craig 1995). Aedes albopic- human bait collections to obtain adults. In the /us is now established in 7 states in Brazil, in laboratory, the larvae and pupae collected were Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and in reared to the adult stage for specific identifica- northern areas of Mexico along the U.S. border tion. (Ibaflez-Bernal and Martinez-Campos 1994, Es- To determine the extention of Ae. albopictus trado-Franco and Craig 1995). Hawley (1988) along the Atlantic Highway from Puerto Barrios suggested that the reduced ability to disperse be- to Guatemala City (the distance is 297 kn)- 12 low 28"N was due to the photoperiod adaptation localities were surveyed based upon their geo- of the Ae. albopictus strain introduced into the graphical location and importance as truck stops. United States, but now it is evident that this spe- From 5 to 10 houses were sampled in the 6 lo- cies will probably continue its expansion south- calities located less than 16 km from San Ma- ward (O'Meara et al. 1993). nuel, the exit of Puerto Barrios City. Only road- In Guatemala no systematic search had been side tire repair shops were sampled in the re- undertaken to detect the immigration of Ae. al- maining 6 localities, which were located more bopictus. With this objective a preliminary sur- than 26 km from Puerto Barrios. vey was undertaken at several border entrances Aedes albopictus and the other mosquito spe- into Guatemala. cies were identified using the keys and the mor- Surveys were conducted in Puerto Barrios, phological descriptions by Tanaka et al. (1979), Puerto Quetzal, and Tecun Um6n, the principal Clark-gil and Darsie (1983), Darsie (1986), and border entrances to Guatemala. The Port of San- Tsuzuki et al. (1989) and comparison with spec- to Tomas de Castilla is located on the outskirts imens of Ae. albopictu,s from Japan. of Puerto Barrios and is the main seaport to the From June to October 1995. 184 houses were United States via the Caribbean Sea 05"41'N. sampled and 1O species of mosquitoes, including 88"38'W). Tecun Um6n is along the main cross- 3 undetermined species, were collected in Puerto ing route between Mexico and Guatemala. Puer- Barrios (Thble l). Larvae and pupae of Ae. al- to Quetzal is the only operating seaport on the bopictus were collected from many kinds of wa- Pacific Ocean side of Guatemala. ter containers in the Colonia San Andres in Port Preliminary surveillance consisted of sam- of Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto Barrios City, pling 3O houses in each locality. The survey Department of Izabal, Guatemala, on June 22, consisted of searching for containers with water, 1995. This is the first record of this species in Guatemala and in Central America. Aedes ae- I ,,project This study was accomplished as a part of gypti (Linn.) was most commonly collected fol- of Investigation of Tropical Diseases" under the Tech- lowed by Ae. albopictus, Limatus durhamii nical Cooperation between Guatemala and Japan. Theobald, Culex coronator GJET-70. Dyar and Knab, C-r. 2 quinquefasciarzs Say, Cx. inflictus (Theobald), Japanese Mission of JICA, Departamento de En- fermedades Transmisibles, Ministerio de Salud publica Cx. thriambus Dyar, and the 3 unidentified spe- y A. S., 5 Avenida ll-4O, Zona I l, Guatemala, Gua- cies. temala. Upon discoveing Ae. albopictus, a survey 3Present address: Seya 2-35-10, Seya-ku, yokoha- was conducted in 15 localities within the mu- ma, Japan 246. nicipality of Puerto Barrios. The location of the 503 504 JounNnr or rur AlcnrceN Mosqurro Covrnol AssocrATtoN Vor-. 12, No. 3 Thble 1. Mosquito speciescaptured and Ae. aegypti, Li. durhamii, Cx. coronator, Cx. identified in Puerto Barrios in 1995. quinquefasciatus, and the other Culex spp. in 45 containers 63.4Vo\. No. of No. of More than 5OVoof the containers with Ae. al- Species larvae pupae bopictus (n : 7l) were discarded tires, followed Aedes aegypti 929 59 by broken glass bottles (l4.l%o), metal drums Aedes albopictus 268 l8 (9.9Vo), and discarded plastic containers (8.57o). Limatus durhamii r63 l3 Abortt 83Vo of the positive containers could be Cules coronator 65 ll classified as discarded (Table 3). In Guatemala C ul ex quinquefo sc iatu s 45 0 the principal larval habitats for Ae. aegypti are Culex inflictus 0 metal drums and cement sinks with tank in the Culex thriambus I I dry season and rubber tires, metal drums, and Culex sp. I l1 0 cement sinks with tank in the rainy season (Oga- Culex sp.2 4 I ta et al. 1996). This preliminary study indicated Anopheles sp. I I o that Ae. albopictus is found more often in dis- carded containers than is Ae. aegypti. Five adult females of Ae. albopictl.s were cap- communities and results are shown in Fig. I and tured by a human bait collection during 30 min Table 2. The collectors attempted to find as in the evening of September 2O, 1995, in Esco- many larvae and pupae of Aedes as possible. Of bas, Puerto Barrios. the 15 localities, l0 were positive for Ae. albo- It was suspected that Ae. albopictu,s may dis- pictus, and 9 were positive for Ae. aegypti. Ae- perse to the capital of Guatemala via the Atlantic des albopictur appears to occupy a slightly dif- Highway in rubber tires, which are frequently ferent niche, which overlaps in part with Ae. ae- infested by this species. Sampling along the gypti. As shown in Table 2, Ae. albopictus was highway indicated that Ae. albopictus had dis- more common than Ae. aegypti in the rural area. persed only 4 km from the starting point of the In contrast, Ae. aegypti was more common in highway, San Manuel. the urban area. Aedes albopictus was the only As of October 1995, Ae. albopictus had species in 26 containers (36.6Vo of the Ae. al- spread within the city of Puerto Barrios. The bopictus -positive containers), but coexisted with northern part of the city is bordered by the Bay N I o rax EaDro LA oarooxa Bayof AnatiqIe tolT lAxto t{tll3 3AX IAIT,IL 3tu 42y".%,>, \ AOUA^.aur. GAIJII{IEctt "d TOCAPITAL Fig. 1. Distribution of Aedes albopictus in Puerto Barrios, 1995. O: Positive for Ae. albopictas; O: negative for Ae. albopictus. SrprsNasBn1996 OpenerroNar AND ScIENTIFIc NorEs 505 Table 2. Distribution of containerspositive of Amatique, which is part of the Caribbean Sea. for Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti To the east and west are rural areas with few encounteredin Puerto Barrios in 1995. houses and villages and infrequent traffic. It is possible that Ae. albopictus may spread slowly No. through this area. To the south ofPuerto Barrios containers No. is a hilly area where there are few houses but positive for of the traffic is heavier because it is the only road houses Ae. Ae. to Guatemala City. Aedes albopictus is well es- exam- albo- ae- tablished in the area and may pose a threat to Localities ined pictus gypti the rest of Guatemala. Other than in the Puerto Barrios area no Ae. albopictur were observed in Rural the other major entry points into Guatemala such Machaquitas Chicleras 60o as Tecun Um6n or Puerto Quetzal or in the other San Pedro Cocona 600 areas within Guatemala. La Frontera 102 o Specimens of adults, pupae, and larvae col- Las Pavas 100 0 lected in Puerto Barrios are deposited in De- Quiebra Pescuezo 61J partment of Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Escobas 722 0 Pharmacy, University of San Carlos of Guate- Manantial lol o mala. Corrozo 232 I We express our appreciation to Japan Inter- Total 78 28 ^ national Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Min- Suburban istry of Public Health of Guatemala and also thanks to Victor Barrios, Ileana Eckstein, and San Andres 30 l0 t6 Onofre Ochoa for their tecnical assistance, Ikuo El Progreso 30628 Tanaka for his illustration of the map, and Chris Barrio Turagua 17327 Frederickson for his kind revision of the manu- Barrio Estrecho 1008 script. Agua Caliente t2 t9 23 Total 99 38 rO2 REFERENCES CITED Urban Clark-gil, S. and R. F Darsie, Jr. 1983. The mosqui- San Manuel 5510 toes of Guatemala.Their identification, distribution Pier of Port 20t2 and bionomics, with key to adult femalesand larvae Total 7522 in English and Spanish.Mosq.