The Eye of the Tiger, the Thrill of the Fight: Effective Larval and Adult Control Measures Against the Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae), in North America

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), is a highly invasive container-inhabiting species with a global distribution. This mosquito, similar to other Stegomyia species such as Aedes aegypti (L.), is highly adapted to urban and suburban areas, and commonly oviposits in artificial containers, which are ubiquitous in these peridomestic environments. The increase in speed and amount of international travel and commerce, coupled with global climate change, have aided in the resurgence and expansion of Stegomyia species into new areas of North America. In many parts of their range, both species are implicated as significant vectors of emerging and re-emerging arboviruses such as dengue, chikungunya, and now Zika. Although rapid and major advances have been made in the field of biology, ecology, genetics, taxonomy, and virology, relatively little has changed in the field of mosquito control in recent decades. This is particularly discouraging in regards to container-inhabiting mosquitoes, because traditional integrated mosquito management (IMM) approaches have not been effective against these species. Many mosquito control programs simply do not possess the man-power or necessary financial resources needed to suppress Ae. albopictus effectively. Therefore, control of mosquito larvae, which is the foundation of IMM approaches, is exceptionally difficult over large areas. This review paper addresses larval habitats, use of geographic information systems for habitat preference detection, door-to-door control efforts, source reduction, direct application of larvicides, biological control agents, area-wide low-volume application of larvicides, hot spot treatments, autodissemination stations, public education, adult traps, attractive-toxic sugar bait methods, lethal ovitraps, barrier-residual adulticides, hand-held ultra-low-volume adulticides, area-wide adulticides applied by ground or air, and genetic control methods. The review concludes with future recommendations for practitioners, researchers, private industry, and policy makers.