Mosquitoes of North America with emphasis in the midwestern United States: long‐term occurrence patterns

Abstract

Mosquitoes are ecologically and economically important invertebrates that transmit numerous diseases and are an integral part of the food web in many terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Despite their importance, there have been no central repositories for occurrence or abundance records of mosquitoes in the United States. To enable research dependent on the geographic distribution and abundance of mosquito species, we built a database of occurrence records collected by many individuals and agencies, primarily in the United States and with emphasis on unpublished data in the Midwest region. This resource is invaluable to researchers studying mosquito ecology, disease vectors and pathways, and insect pests. The database contains 542 144 occurrence records, and each record includes information on sex, life stage, sampling method, presence/absence or abundance, and date and location of sampling. The accessibility of this resource will directly impact management and planning for mosquito‐borne diseases with region‐specific or species‐specific modeling. Because there is little centralized ecological information on mosquitoes, this database is foundational to expanding knowledge of mosquito ecology.

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