Wansworth
Well-known member
According to latest news this nasty insect has spread all along the med coast inSpain and inland.....thanks to the car
Mosquito tigre
- Thread starter Wansworth
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Davy_S
Well-known member
Do Spanish Mozzies drive?
Yngmar
Well-known member
Yup, they can drive you mad at night.
BrianH
Active member
Here in Italy the problem with the zanzara tigre or tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), characterized by its striped abdomen and legs, is that, unlike the local species that operate from dusk on, this is a very nasty version of a nasty species; it attacks aggressively even during daylight hours.
Here in NE Italy there are plenty of the home-grown variety, especially in the vast lagoon areas where I am and where they breed in the ditches that ring the flat lagoon complexes. In the early 1980s it was just not possible to remain above deck at dusk - the marina was covered by a cloud of mosquitoes. Fortunately the commune recognised the threat to the tourist trade and instituted an effective spraying regime and, in some static water areas, the introduction of an American fish species that feed on the larvae. Now they are but a shadow of their former intensity.
But these are now augmented by the Asian tiger species, introduced to the Mediterranean by the importation of old tyres for recycling in Spain that carried the larvae in residual rainwater within them. It reached northern Europe via bamboo where cut stems were imported into Dutch garden centres, in which residual water contained larvae. Climate change and species adaption has caused it to have been regularly recorded in Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. It is a vector of several pathogens and recently identified as involved in the localised transmission of chikungunya virus in Italy and France and dengue virus in France and Croatia.
So, get used to the latest illegal immigrant, it is here to stay.
RichardS
N/A
It is a vector of several pathogens and recently identified as involved in the localised transmission of chikungunya virus in Italy and France and dengue virus in France and Croatia.
So, get used to the latest illegal immigrant, it is here to stay.
Well that's cheered me up no end.
Richard
BrianH
Active member
Well that's cheered me up no end.
Richard
Just to add to your lack of cheer, and prompted by this thread, I have just retrospectively updated my knowledge on this delightful little animal - considerable research has recently been directed on it by the European Environmental Agency due to its invasive spread throughout Europe. In addition to those diseases I mentioned that it is a vector for, it actually now totals some 20 diseases, including yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and, very important for pregnant women, the Zika virus.
I am especially allergic to mosquito bites and very nearly gave up my berth in NE Italy when I realised just what a scourge the mosquito is here and it led me to study the species in the hope of finding some sort of solution to the problem. I found none other than screens and the use of repellents applied to the skin - my medic wife refuses to sanction any aerosol or wick-burning chemicals in a confined space, claiming some very unpleasantly toxic ingredients in them.
You yourself commented on the invasion you experienced when, on my recommendation, you anchored in the Laguna di Marano (where my marina is situated). I was surprised that you were so inundated so far from the shoreline. At least any bites you received were unlikely to have been from the Tiger mosquito, it has a very limited range as, despite their fast and aggressive biting attacks, they have a short flying radius from where they incubate, which would not be in the brackish lagoon water.
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Wansworth
Well-known member
Just hope they don’t spread to Galicia!
RichardS
N/A
Yes indeed. We had thousands of mozzies that night and the following morning, but only the ordinary sort who don't seem to bite me .... probably SWMBO and Son No. 1 seem to attract them all away from me and Son No. 2.
Some of the Marano mozzies hitched a ride with us all the way to Venice. We usually light one of those mozzie coils at night which seem to work very well although that night we just kept the hatches closed. When we do light a coil, the decks are strewn with dead bodies the following morning .... so maybe your Wife is right about the noxious chemicals. :ambivalence:
Richard
BrianH
Active member
Judging by the established extent that they are registered by the VectorNet project, in SW France, Cataluña and Navarra last year, plus that no data on distribution for NW Spain exists, I would suspect that it is only a matter of time, if not already there.
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Sybarite
Well-known member
They are spreading quickly through France. They are in the next department to us (#92 -west of Paris "Hauts de Seine").
reginaldon
New member
Thank God I live in good old boring England
Pavalijo
Member
I could swear I swatted one of the nasty barstewards here in Gijon (Asturias) this morning - lots of blood, possibly the Admiral’s!
Definitely not all black as it flew around the cabin - but not in a fit state for proper identification by the time I had despatched it!
Mikedefieslife
Member
One thing I've never understood, and you tend to see it more on monos than catamarans is that the owners have nets over the windows and hatches to prevent bugs, but they leave the companion way open all day/night just inviting mosquitoes in to get them.
Not come across any of these ones yet and would rather not. Guess I've found a use for my 8 bottles of 3M ultrathon deet that I had left over from South America.
Not come across any of these ones yet and would rather not. Guess I've found a use for my 8 bottles of 3M ultrathon deet that I had left over from South America.
