Ochlerotatus (Finlaya) japonicus (Theobald, 1901)
Common name; Japanese rockpool mosquito
New Zealand Status: Not Present
Ochlerotatus japonicus is an invasive species because of its propensity to breed in a variety of containers including tyres. Used tyres are moved around as part of a huge worldwide trade, and Ochlerotatus japonicus has been intercepted a number of times in New Zealand (Sandlant 2003). It poses a biosecurity threat because of its ability to be a vector for disease such as West Nile virus (Spurr & Sandlant 2004).
Vector and Disease Information
Laboratory studies have show that Ochlerotatus japonicus is a very efficient vector of West Nile virus, but its actual role in the natural transmission of this virus has yet to be determined. West Nile virus was isolated from Ochlerotatus japonicus collected in New Jersey and New York State during the 2000 surveillance season. This may indicate that Ochlerotatus japonicus could provide an important link between people and West Nile virus in the United States (Scott 2001). Ochlerotatus japonicus is suspected of being a vector of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus to swine in northern Japan. Under experimental conditions it has been shown to transmit JE virus to mice and also to transmit the virus to its progeny through the eggs (CDC 2001).
Distribution (based on Biogeographic Regions)
Australasian Biogeographic Region
New Zealand
Not present, intercepted
Intercepted 1993, potential to survive in New Zealand (Laird 1995); also 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 (NZ Ministry of Health).
Australia, South Pacific
Not present
Oriental Biogeographic Region
China (southern China, Hong Kong) (Dyar 1921; Feng 1938), Japan (Ryukyu Retto) (Tanaka 1971), Taiwan (Miyagi 1971).
Present, endemic
Nearctic Biogeographic Region
Canada (Quebec) (Savignac et al. 2002), USA - Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, (Andreadis et al. 2001), Pennsylvania, Maryland (Fonseca et al. 2001), Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine (Foss & Dearborn 2001), Massachusetts (MA Dept. of Public Health), Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont (Graham & Turmel 2001), Virginia (Harrison et al. 2002), Washington, West Virginia (CDC 2001c).
Present, introduced
Palearctic Biogeographic Region
Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku) (Tanaka et al. 1979), North Korea, South Korea including Cheju Island (Ching-Hua 1981), China (northern China) (Feng 1938, Knight 1968), Russia (Gutsevich & Dubitskiy 1987).
Present, endemic
France
Present, introduced (Schaffner et al. 2003).
Taxonomic Position
Ochlerotatus japonicus is placed in Group H (geniculatus) of the subgenus Finlaya, which also includes koreicus. Until recently this species was known as Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus (Reinert 2000).
Diagnosis
A diagnosis is the minimum set of characters and states that will separate this taxon from all others in this set of taxa.
| Diagnostic characters | State |
| Postspiracular setae | Present |
| Pale scales of proboscis | Absent |
| Erect scales of the head | Numerous |
| Lower mesepimeral setae (one or more) | Present |
Characteristic Features
Head: proboscis completely dark scaled. Thorax: integument dark, silvery-white scales on the scutum in longitudinal lines and forming a lyre-shape. Wing: pale scales on the base of the costa. Legs: with distinct bands of pale scales present on some legs (Tanaka et al. 1979).
