Put some DEET on those shoulders, Brigitte, or The Invasive Little Mosquito

This is Aedes albopictus.
This is a female Aedes albopictus  sucking blood from a human being. (Only the females suck blood.)

Who signs up as the hand models for these pictures, anyway?

This is another picture of one sucking blood. It turns out that in most pictures of mosquitoes that they are posing on a human’s hand.

This is where Aedes albopictus should be found.

Geographical range
Native range: Ae. albopictus occurs thoughout the Oriental Region from the tropics of Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Indian Ocean Islands, north through China and Japan and west to Madagascar.

These are some of the places where Aedes albopictus has been introduced.

Where Ae. albopictus was found in the US, 10 years ago. How much has it spread since then?

This is another..

Watch out, Daisy Miller!

…and here are some more spots.

This is where mosquitoes like to live, breed, and hitch intercontinental rides.

(Used tires are shipped from one country to another.)

Aedes albopictus is a vector of some really nasty diseases, like Dengue and Chikungunya (post coming soon).

I believe that both Brigitte and Issur Danielovitch were wearing sun block and insect repellent, as they are still alive to tell the tale.

Known introduced range: Ae. albopictus has been one of the fastest spreading animal species over the past two decades (Benedict et al. 2007). The mosquito has been introduced in North and South America, with more recent introductions having occurred in Africa, Australia and Europe, where it is established in Albania and Italy and where it has been detected in France (Eritja et al. 2005). In the United States, it is established in most states east of the Mississippi River as far as Minnesota and Delaware (Source: Novak). It has spread to at least 28 countries outside its native range around the globe (Benedict et al. 2008). Climate change will likely allow tiger mosquitoes to further increase their range by increasing areas of suitable climate. These areas could include Australia (Dr. Moira McKinnon pers. comm. in Beilharz 2009), New Zealand (Derraik, 2004) and further north in the United States (Phillips, 2008).

Check out this invasive species link, which is where the above quote came from.