Yellow Fever Mosquito

Aedes aegypti — the yellow fever mosquito — is one of the most consequential disease-vector insects in human history. The species is the primary vector of yellow fever virus, dengue virus (all four serotypes), Zika virus, chikungunya virus, Mayaro virus, and several other arboviruses; together these infections cause hundreds of millions of human cases per year and tens of thousands of deaths. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa and spread globally during the European slave trade and merchant shipping era — water barrels on slave ships and merchant vessels carried larvae and pupae across oceans, and the species established in every tropical and subtropical port. A. aegypti is highly synanthropic: she has adapted exclusively to human habitat, bites primarily humans (in contrast to the more catholic feeding habits of most mosquito species), and breeds in artificial container habitat — discarded tires, bottle caps, flower-pot saucers, clogged gutters, vases, water-storage containers, and any other small water container that retains rainwater for more than a few days. Females bite primarily during daylight hours (with peaks shortly after sunrise and before sunset, in contrast to the dawn/dusk peaks of Anopheles malaria mosquitoes). Yellow fever epidemics in 19th-century US port cities (Philadelphia 1793, Memphis 1878, New Orleans repeatedly) reshaped North American urban public-health policy and were the original driver of US mosquito-control infrastructure. The species is currently expanding its range with climate-driven warming.