The mosquitoes of Finland: updated distributions and bionomics

Abstract

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) were collected in Finland between 2012 and 2018 to determine the species present and their distributions. In total, 52 466 specimens from 1031 collections formed the basis for the preparation of distribution maps for each of the 40 species that were collected. Anopheles maculipennis s.s., An. claviger, Aedes geminus and Ochlerotatus sticticus are confirmed on mainland Finland after previous records were uncertain or absent. Coquillettidia richiardii, Culiseta morsitans, Cs. ochroptera, Culex territans, Cx. torrentium, Oc. leucomelas, Oc. nigrinus, Oc. pullatus and Oc. punctodes occur more widely than previously reported. Three species, Ae. rossicus, Cs. subochrea and Oc. cyprius were not collected, although Ae. rossicus was subsequently found in Lapland by another researcher. No invasive species were collected. Ochlerotatus communis, an aggressive biter, was the most commonly encountered species. Larval collection data suggest that several species may have up to three generations per year in Finland, with Cx. torrentium and Cx. pipiens having at least two, and Oc. communis and Oc. punctor regularly found as larvae across the summer. These data, especially when coupled with historical records, are vital for monitoring species which have significant vector potential, particularly when faced with a warming climate.

Predicting Spatial Patterns of Sindbis Virus (SINV) Infection Risk in Finland Using Vector, Host and Environmental Data

“…Some uncertainty arose from mosquito absences, which were randomly selected from the points where collections were made for a whole-country study [ 47 ]. Since collection data covered so many species with differing life histories, any points where potential vectors were absent may not reflect true absences.…”

“…Based on the mosquito collections, Ae. geminus is by far the more dominant species of the two across the whole country [ 47 ]. Of all the species that are included in the modelling experiment, Ae.…”

“…Mosquito presence data were collected in Finland in 2009 [ 46 ], and presence/absence data between 2012–2018 [ 47 ]; these were combined for potential SINV vectors. Due to the lack of reliable identification methods to distinguish adult females of Cx.…”

Mosquito Distribution in Northwestern Russia: Species of the Genera Anopheles Meigen, Coquillettidia Dyar, Culex L., and Culiseta Felt (Diptera, Culicidae)

“…Sweden (Natvig, 1948;Dahl, 1975;Schäfer and Lundström, 2001;Lundström et al, 2013;Hesson et al, 2015;Möhlmann et al, 2017). Finland (Natvig, 1948;Utrio, 1977;Culverwell, 2018;Culverwell et al, 2021). Estonia (Remm, 1957).…”

Rediscovering the mosquito fauna (Diptera: Culicidae) of Estonia: an annotated checklist with distribution maps and DNA evidence

“…The mosquito fauna of Finland has been updated multiple times in the last decade. First of these was a literature review listing 38 mosquito species (Huldén & Huldén 2014), but this information was further built upon and corrected in later articles (Culverwell 2018;Culverwell et al 2020;Culverwell et al 2021), with the most recent list including 43 species. Similarly, a recent comprehensive overview was written about the mosquitoes of northwestern Russia, reporting a total of 46 species and comparing the results to data from neighboring countries (Khalin & Aibulatov 2020).…”