The Global Vector Hub

⏳ A final reminder that applications close 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 for 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 with hands-on 𝗩𝗕𝗗-𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 exercises:

📅 𝟭𝟵 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 - 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗥 📊

📅 𝟮𝟲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 - 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝘂𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 & 𝗼𝗵𝘃𝗯𝗱 🖥️

✅ Details + application: lnkd.in/e2k7yENq

🦟 Heard a lot of chatter lately about #mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit?

No need to worry - the season in mainland Europe is still a long way off.

Travelling to regions where mosquitoes are active now? Learn how to prepare & protect yourself: bit.ly/3MKu8ky

#Chikungunya #IDsky #EpiSky

Ticks in the landscape: Fragmentation impacts density of Europe's principal tick-borne disease vector, Ixodes ricinus, across Germany Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) constitute a considerable challenge for human and animal health. Understanding the driving forces of TBD risk is key to developing effective prevention strategies, particularly in light of human-nature interfaces or increasing anthropogenic land transformation. Landscape features may influence local tick abundance by modulating biotic and abiotic conditions and tick host space use. The present country-wide study analysed the relationship of landscape composition with...

Ticks in the landscape: Fragmentation impacts density of Europe's principal tick-borne disease vector, Ixodes ricinus, across Germany PubMed

‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out? Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be ...

🪰 Art Borkent: "‘I love #midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for #taxonomy in danger of dying out?"
by @pgreenfielduk.bsky.social in @theguardian.com
#Ceratopogonidae

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

“#WestNileVirus Human Cases in Türkiye in 2024” #ActaTropica

Early hominin arrival in Southeast Asia triggered the evolution of major human malaria vectors - Scientific Reports Some species of the Leucosphyrus Group of Anopheles mosquitoes in Southeast Asia are highly anthropophilic and efficient vectors of human malaria parasites, while others primarily feed on non-human primates (NHP) and transmit NHP malaria parasites. The evolutionary history of this group, particularly the origin of anthropophily, was studied using phylogenomic analysis of 2,657 high-confidence nuclear single-copy orthologous genes and 13 mitochondrial protein coding genes from 40 individuals of 11 species. Molecular dating and ancestral state reconstruction revealed that monkey-feeding is ancestral with speciation of monkey-feeding species dating to the Pliocene within Sundaland (Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra and Java) which was covered in tropical rain forests during this period. Although less parsimonious alternatives cannot be excluded, molecular dating, ancestral state reconstruction and reticulation analysis indicated that anthropophily most likely evolved once, involving adaptive introgression, in the early Pleistocene in Sundaland, giving rise to multiple descendent anthropophilic species. Such early origination of anthropophily must necessarily have been in response to the arrival of early hominins (Homo erectus) rather than anatomically modern humans, likely associated with loss and fragmentation of rainforests during the early Pleistocene. The early origination of anthropophily also provides independent non-archaeological evidence supporting the limited fossil record of early hominin colonization in Southeast Asia around 1.8 Mya.

The preference of some mosquitoes in the Leucosphyrus Group of Anopheles mosquitoes for feeding on humans may have evolved in response to the arrival of early hominins in Southeast Asia ~1.8 million years ago. The findings are published in Scientific Reports. 🧪 #evobio

ESA Call for Papers The Entomological Society of America has a rich history of publishing curated collections across the journals, serving the professional and scie

Share with all mosquito researchers. 🧪🦟
I'm co-organizing a special issue in the Journal of Medical Entomology on systematics, taxonomy, and natural history of mosquitoes. See details in the link. Happy to answer questions. Proposal Deadline 15 April 2026.

academic.oup.com/insect-scien...

Only one month left to go - submit your abstract now! 😊

Don't forget to submit your abstract to present at the UK VBD Conference in Liverpool on 31st March and 1st April 2026!

Do remember to submit your abstract for the UK VBD Conference 2026!

Teen the first Australian confirmed to have died from tick-induced red meat allergy Teenager Jeremy Webb's death in 2022 is the first documented fatal case of mammalian meat allergy in the country and second in the world.

🕷️ #Australia 🇦🇺: "Teenager Jeremy Webb died of meat #allergy from #tick bites, coroner finds" via Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

#TickborneDiseases #AlphaGalSyndrome

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Mosquitoes may have evolved a taste for human blood thanks to Homo erectus A new genetic analysis suggests some mosquitoes’ taste for human blood may date back 1.8 million years

Mosquitos may have evolved a taste for human blood thanks to Homo erectus #Science #Biology #EvolutionaryBiology #Evolution #Mosquitoes #HomoErectus

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mosquitos-may-have-evolved-a-taste-for-human-blood-thanks-to-homo-erectus/

Bolivia: Nearly 1,000 chikungunya cases reported in Santa Cruz last week In a follow-up on the chikungunya outbreak in Bolivia, chikungunya cases in the department of Santa Cruz continue to rise.

🦟" #Bolivia 🇧🇴: Nearly 1,000 #chikungunya cases reported in Santa Cruz last week" 🌎
via @outbreaknewstoday.substack.com.web.brid.gy
open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

IMAV: International meeting on arboviruses and their vectors

Registration and abstract submission for the international Meeting on Arboviruses and their Vectors (a UK Microbiology Society event), Liverpool 1-2 September 2026, are now open!

Link:

microbiologysociety.org/event/full-e...

Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii, the main malaria vector in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest , is a ...
->Nature | More on "Malaria vector Atlantic Forest research" at BigEarthData.ai | #Forest #Malaria

Close-up image of a Aedes aegypti mosquito, piercing human skin with its proboscis to feed on blood. Credit: wikimedia/James Gathany

In PNAS Science Sessions, Laura Duvall of Columbia University explains how a circadian peptide helps control when Aedes aegypti mosquitoes hunt and why understanding this timing could inform new disease prevention strategies. Listen now: https://ow.ly/scgm50Yl8F7.

Excruciating tropical disease can now be transmitted in most of Europe, study finds ‘Shocking’ data shows the climate crisis and invasive mosquitos mean chikungunya could spread in 29 countries

#JRSocInterface in @theguardian.com | Temperature-sensitive incubation, transmissibility and risk of Aedes albopictus-borne chikungunya virus in Europe: doi.org/10.1098/rsif...

Tulane University will host the First Annual US #ChagasDisease Meeting. Register now for “ #Chagas Cardiomyopathy: new insights into inflammation, damage, and progression“

🗓️March 26 to 27, 2026
📍 School of Medicine in New Orleans
ℹ️ coalicionchagas.org/event/miocar...

#events #BeatNTDs #NTDs #USA

The #FreeToRead #EditorsChoice article for the issue reported on #SandFly (#Phlebotominae) activity and abundance in vertical strata in a tropical dry forest in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Why not give it a read?
buff.ly/fF4BPBn

#Ectoparasites #InsectVectors #InsectBorneDiseases #Leishmaniasis

The new issue of Medical and Veterinary Entomology is now available! 📢

It includes more of the Mammalian #ectoparasite threats and management under a #ChangingClimate in the Global South #SpecialIssue! 🎉

View the contents here ⬇️
buff.ly/AM0EFfk

@royentsoc.bsky.social @wileyeco.bsky.social

Two *4-year* research #jobs in #mosquito vector biology at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social:

(1) Research Fellow: hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

(2) Research Assistant (part-time): hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

We aim to unravel local vector assemblages while testing global processes

Two great 4y positions up for grabs with us and Ross working on his BBSRC MosquitoNI project, with collaborators in GB. Deadlines in a week (research fellow) and 2 weeks (RA). Lots of vector ecology and modelling but also looking at what viruses can we find in our 🦟!

The mosquito: the world's deadliest animal Buzzing to take a bite...

The mosquito: the world's deadliest animal 🦟

UofG's @drheatherferg.bsky.social featured on the Naked Scientists podcast to discuss #mosquitoes, their biology and behaviour, role in disease transmission & innovative strategies for #vector control.

Listen 🎧👇

This new paper by Sandeep Tegar, @drstevenmwhite.bsky.social et al. from @ukceh.bsky.social & @glasgow.ac.uk shows that chikungunya has lower thermal threshold for transmission than previously thought, carrying a higher risk of #outbreaks across Europe.

🦟 "Temperature-sensitive incubation, transmissibility and risk of #Aedes albopictus-borne #chikungunya #virus in #Europe" by Sandeep Tegar et al.

#arbovirus #VBDs #ClimateCrisis

royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

Temperature-sensitive incubation, transmissibility and risk of Aedes albopictus-borne chikungunya virus in Europe Abstract. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has been reported in over 10 European countries. Despite the temperature sensitivity of mosquito-borne viruses, there a

The map shows the threat of Chikungunya virus transmission may last several months of the year in warmer parts of Europe where the tiger mosquito is already established.

See the full study: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

2/2

Chikungunya poses a greater health threat in Europe than previously thought because it can be spread at air temps as low as 13°C, a new study finds.

Researchers produced a risk map showing the threat of virus transmission, spread by the Asian tiger mosquito.

www.ceh.ac.uk/press/debili...

1/🧪

Our new paper is now out on "Temperature-sensitive incubation, transmissibility and risk of Aedes albopictus-borne chikungunya virus in Europe". Chikungunya has a lower thermal threshold for transmission than previously thought, carrying a higher risk of outbreaks across Europe.

lnkd.in/g79PzgqJ

GBE | ERGA-BGE Genomes of Culex laticinctus, Culex modestus, Culex perexiguus, and Culex theileri: Unveiling the Genomes of the Key Vectors of West Nile Virus in the Mediterranean Basin

Ruiz-López et al. assemble reference sequences for four Culex species, offering crucial resources for exploring the genetic basis of vector competence for different pathogens, and help implement mosquito control efforts and disease prevention.

🔗 academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

#genome #evolution

Happy our latest work is out! 🧬🦟

1️⃣ We present chromosome-level reference genomes for four Culex species present in the Mediterranean Basin

🦟Cx. laticinctus
🦟Cx. modestus
🦟Cx. perexiguus
🦟Cx. theileri

They were generated as part of @ergabiodiv.bsky.social initiative's @biogeneurope.bsky.social