Summary - Distinguishing Aedes albopictus, the Asian Tiger mosquito, from native British mosquitoes
False reports of possible Asian Tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) have been received by MEZE. This page outlines differences between this species and similar native species.
Applies to England
CCHS navigation menu:
CCHS homepage
Topic: health impacts
Vector-borne disease: mosquitoes
Part of: learning about mosquitoes
Important resources for Asian Tiger mosquitoes:
- Summary - distinguishing the Asian Tiger mosquito from native brisih mosquito
- Full guidance
More content:
Summary
The UK has recorded 36 species of mosquito, some of which bite humans and can be a nuisance. The Tiger mosquito is a small black-and-white mosquito, and easy to recognise, and has a back scutum (body) with a white stripe on its back, and has plain wings with no markings or spots.
There are 3 native species of mosquito that are sometimes confused with Aedes albopictus
- Culiseta annulata
- Aedes geniculatus
- Culex pipiens s.l./ Culex torrentium
The most likely reasons why many people confuse these 2 mosquito species for the Asian Tiger mosquito are:
- Cs. annulata is large and has very distinctive and boldly striped legs similar to Ae. albopictus
- Ae. geniculatus has very white scales on a black body similar to Ae. albopictus
There are 3 important differences between Cs. annulata and Ae. albopictus:
- although both species have legs that have rings of white scales which give a banded appearance, Cs. annulata is much larger than Ae. albopictus with a wing span 13 to 15 mm, compared to 7 to 8 mm,
- Cs. annulata also have clusters of scales on their wings which make them look spotted; this does not occur on the wings of Ae. albopictus,
- the thorax of Ae. albopictus has a single white central line from front to back; this does not occur on Cs. Annulata.
There are 2 important differences between Ae. geniculatus and Ae. albopictus:
- the bright white scales on a black body of Ae. albopictus can also be confused with similar bright white scales on Ae. geniculatus; however, the latter differs in that tarsi on the legs are not banded, except for a white tip to the femurs (appearing as white ‘knees’)
- the thorax on Ae. geniculatus has many white lines, and not just a central line as in Ae. albopictus