Back in 2010 a new invasive mosquito series made its way to Southern California. Called the Aedes mosquito, it first showed up in El Monte in 2010. By 2018, it was prevalent enough that my colleague Emily Guerin investigated. She reported:
… it’s been spreading all throughout Southern California. And it’s way more vicious than our native mosquito, the Culex.
Unlike the Culex, Aedes mosquitoes bite during the day. And they go for the legs and ankles, instead of buzzing around your ears, so you can’t hear them coming.
And they need much less water to breed.
That’s one key difference between the invasive Aedes and native Culex mosquitoes. Culex prefer to lay their eggs in big sources of water, like swimming pools, but the Aedes mosquitoes hardly need any water at all. Both mosquitoes, however, can carry diseases: Culex has successfully transmitted West Nile to six people in L.A. County already this year, while Aedes can transmit Zika virus and dengue fever, although that hasn’t happened yet.
Source: The Mosquito Population In The San Gabriel Valley Is Up (Gulp) 500% | LAist


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