The exotic mosquito, Aedes koreicus, has been identified in Italy for the first time, in a small town in Belluno province, north-eastern Italy.

The species has been previously introduced in Europe in Belgium in 2008, where successfully established (Versteirt et al. 2009. Arrival and acclimatisation of the exotic mosquito species Aedes koreicus in Belgium, Europe. 94-96 in Coosemans et al. Mosquito vectors of disease: spatial biodiversity, drivers of change, and risk. Final Report. Brussels : Belgian Science Policy 2009 –131 pp)

It was the 24th of may 2011 when Dr. Simone Martini (Entostudio) found larvae in a catch basin and in small water containers from 2 private gardens and at the cemetery, during a regular monitoring program promoted by the Veneto Region and the Local Health Unit, against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which is not present in some villages. Laboratory moulted adults were morphologically identified as Aedes koreicus and then confirmed by PCRs, thanks to Dr R. Romi (ISS), DR. F. Shaffner (University of Zurich) and Dr. G. Capelli (Istituto Zooprofilattico delle Venezzie di Legnaro).

After the identification Entostudio and Istituto Zooprofilattico increased the monitoring activity to understand how extended was the specie, to try to eradicate and to understand the origin of the mosquito. ore samples were then collected and Ae. Koreicus was found, up to now, in 12 villages. The mosquito is too extended to understand how it get in Itlay and also to try any eradication.

The larvae has been found in the same kind of breeding sites where Ae. albopictus breeds but never together, even if in some villages both the species are present.