ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2009) — Mosquitoes with the potential to carry diseases lethal to many unique species of Galápagos wildlife are being regularly introduced to the islands via aircraft, according to new research published today. The southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, was previously thought to have been introduced to the Galápagos in a one-off event in the mid-1980s. However, scientists from the University of Leeds, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the University of Guayaquil, the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, have shown that the mosquito is regularly hitching a ride from the mainland and breeding with existing populations. The sinister stowaways are also island hopping on tourist boats, meaning that incursions of mosquito-borne diseases are likely to spread throughout the archipelago. Arnaud Bataille, a Leeds-ZSL PhD student who carried out the work said, “Our research consisted of looking for insects in aircraft holds and genetic analysis of the mosquito populations. The former allows us to quantify the arrival rates of mosquitoes on aeroplanes, and the latter allow us to estimate how many survive and spread around the islands once in Galápagos. On average the number of mosquitoes per aeroplane is low, but many aircraft arrive each day from the mainland in order to service the tourist industry, and the mosquitoes seem able to survive and breed once they leave the plane.” …
Disease-carrying Mosquitoes From Tourist Aircraft Threaten Galapagos Islands Wildlife
