The female insect that Björn Hjaltason found on October 18.
Photo/Björn Hjaltason
Three mosquitoes of the species Culiseta annulata were found in Iceland last week, after Björn Hjaltason of Kiðafell in Kjós noticed them in his garden.
He first reported the finding on the Facebook page
Skordýr á Íslandi
(“Insects in Iceland”) after spotting an unusual-looking insect on October 16.
In an interview with mbl.is, Hjaltason says he immediately suspected what it might be. “I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before.” Björn caught the insect, which turned out to be a female.
The next day, the same thing happened again — this time it was a male, recognizable by its feathery antennae and larger mouthparts compared to the female.
Hjaltason had another visitor for the third night in a row, on October 18, and again managed to catch the insect — another female.
When asked about the experience, he says it was quite exciting. “Yes, it’s always fun to discover something new,” says Hjaltason, who sent the three insects for identification to Matthías Alfreðsson, entomologist at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, who confirmed that they were mosquitoes of the species Culiseta annulata.
In his Facebook post, Hjaltason wrote that “the last fortress has fallen,” as Iceland has until now not been considered one of the countries where mosquitoes are native. Speaking to mbl.is, he admits that might be a bit of an overstatement — it still remains to be seen whether the insects will establish themselves here and survive the winter.
As for where they came from, Hjaltason speculates: “One always suspects Grundartangi — it’s only about six kilometers from me, and things often arrive with ships and containers, so it’s possible something came in that way.”
“But if three of them came straight into my garden, there were probably more,” Hjaltason adds, noting that this species should be quite capable of surviving Icelandic conditions.