ArticleParasites & vectors2024
Host attraction and host feeding patterns indicate generalist feeding of Culex pipiens s.s. and Cx. torrentium.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Vectors, host range, and spatial distribution of Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens in Europe: a systematic review.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2025Pooled it
- Xenomonitoring reveals mosquito-host feeding patterns in Serbia.Medical and veterinary entomology · 2026Article
- Not all West Nile virus lineages behave alike: dose-response differences between lineages 1 and 2.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Insight into eco-epidemiological traits of European native vector mosquitoes for disease transmission.Parasites & vectors · 2026Review
- Climate-based forecasting from national Culex mosquito surveillance to support West Nile and Usutu virus preparedness in England and Wales.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Bloodmeal metabarcoding reveals host feeding patterns for Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus in Jutiapa, Guatemala and Texas, USA.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A process-based model simulating the life-cycle of Culex pipiens s.s./Cx. torrentium (Diptera: Culicidae) in Germany.Parasites & vectors · 2026Article
- Relative proportion and contrasting host preference of Culex pipiens biotypes across Europe.Parasites & vectors · 2026Article
- Review
- West Nile Virus in Europe: Epidemiology, Vector Ecology, Environmental Drivers, and the Role of Equine Sentinel Surveillance in a One Health Framework.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Scenario-driven shifts in future Usutu and West Nile virus outbreak characteristics in the Netherlands.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Bloodmeal metabarcoding reveals host feeding patterns for Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus in Jutiapa, Guatemala and Texas, USA.Research square · 2026Article
- Field-Collected Belgian Culex pipiens and Culex torrentium Mosquitoes are Competent for West Nile Virus Under Different Temperature Conditions.Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2026Article
- Evaluation of vector competence of Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Culex pipiens pallens for Japanese encephalitis virus genotype III and V.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Combining blood meal analysis and parasite detection yields a more comprehensive understanding of insect host feeding patterns.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Carry-over effects in Culex species along a land use gradient with differences in microclimatic conditions.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Spatial inference of Culex pipiens abundance and biting activity distribution in the Netherlands using citizen science.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Are the Culex pipiens biotypes pipiens, molestus and their hybrids competent vectors of avian Plasmodium?PloS one · 2024Article
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13 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMosquito host feeding patterns are an important factor of the species-specific vector capacity determining pathogen transmission routes. Culex pipiens s.s./Cx. torrentium are competent vectors of several arboviruses, such as West Nile virus and Usutu virus. However, studies on host feeding patterns rarely differentiate the morphologically indistinguishable females.
methodsWe analyzed the host feeding attraction of Cx. pipiens and Cx. torrentium in host-choice studies for bird, mouse, and a human lure. In addition, we summarized published and unpublished data on host feeding patterns of field-collected specimens from Germany, Iran, and Moldova from 2012 to 2022, genetically identified as Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens, Cx. pipiens biotype molestus, Cx. pipiens hybrid biotype pipiens × molestus, and Cx. torrentium, and finally put the data in context with similar data found in a systematic literature search.
resultsIn the host-choice experiments, we did not find a significant attraction to bird, mouse, and human lure for Cx. pipiens pipiens and Cx. torrentium. Hosts of 992 field-collected specimens were identified for Germany, Iran, and Moldova, with the majority determined as Cx. pipiens pipiens, increasing the data available from studies known from the literature by two-thirds. All four Culex pipiens s.s./Cx. torrentium taxa had fed with significant proportions on birds, humans, and nonhuman mammals. Merged with the data from the literature from 23 different studies showing a high prevalence of blood meals from birds, more than 50% of the blood meals of Cx. pipiens s.s. were identified as birds, while up to 39% were human and nonhuman mammalian hosts. Culex torrentium fed half on birds and half on mammals. However, there were considerable geographical differences in the host feeding patterns.
conclusionsIn the light of these results, the clear characterization of the Cx. pipiens s.s./Cx. torrentium taxa as ornithophilic/-phagic or mammalophilic/-phagic needs to be reconsidered. Given their broad host ranges, all four Culex taxa could potentially serve as enzootic and bridge vectors.
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