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Human and animal vector-borne diseases, particularly mosquito-borne diseases, are emerging or re-emerging worldwide. Six Aedes invasive mosquito (AIM) species were introduced to Europe since the 1970s: Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Ae. japonicus, Ae. koreicus, Ae. atropalpus and Ae. triseriatus. Here, we report the results of AIMSurv2020, the first pan-European surveillance effort for AIMs. Implemented by 42 volunteer teams from 24 countries. And presented in the form of a dataset named “AIMSurv Aedes Invasive Mosquito species harmonized surveillance in Europe. AIM-COST Action. Project ID: CA17108”. AIMSurv2020 harmonizes field surveillance methodologies for sampling different AIMs life stages, frequency and minimum length of sampling period, and data reporting. Data include minimum requirements for sample types and recommended requirements for those teams with more resources. Data are published as a Darwin Core archive in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility- Spain, comprising a core file with 19,130 records (EventID) and an occurrences file with 19,743 records (OccurrenceID). AIM species recorded in AIMSurv2020 were Ae. albopictus, Ae. japonicus and Ae. koreicus, as well as native mosquito species. This study was funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) under the project ‘Coordinated surveillance actions on invasive alien species and emerging vector borne diseases’; the City Health Office of the City of Zagreb, within the ‘Program for monitoring invasive mosquito species in the area of the City of Zagreb in 2020’; the Consejería de Economía e Infraestructura of the Junta de Extremadura and the European Regional Development Fund, a Way to Make Europe, through the research project IB16135; Dirección de Salud Pública (Gobierno Vasco), Project EU-LIFE 18 IPC/ES/000001 (Urban Klima 2050) y Programa Estatal de Vigilancia de mosquitos en puertos y Aeropuertos, del Ministerio de Sanidad (Gobierno de España); EMME-CARE project, which has been funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement ID 856612); Institute of Zoology under the project EVOLANTER (project no. 20.80009.7007.02). RL is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) under the project NEED (grant no. 01Kl2022); LIFE CONOPS project (LIFE12 ENV/GR/000466), funded by the European Commission in the framework of the program LIFE + Environment Policy and Governance; Municipalities of Slovenia: City Municipality of Nova Gorica, City Municipality of Koper, Municipality of Izola, Municipality of Piran and Municipality of Ankaran; National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH grant numbers KH-130379, PD-135143, FK-138563 and K-135841). The research activity of KK was supported by the Janos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by the ÚNKP-20-5-PTE-597 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology; Portuguese National Program for Vector Surveillance (REVIVE) and we are particularly grateful to the regional workgroup of Algarve for the monitoring activities; PR (19_ECO_0070) project ‘Aves y Enfermedades Infecciosas Emergentes: Impacto de las Especies Exóticas y Migratorias en la transmisión de Malaria aviar y el virus del Nilo Occidental – AvEIEs’ from ‘Ayudas Fundación BBVA a Equipos de Investigación Científica 2019’; project grant number 57 PCCDI/2018, grant agency ‘The Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation’ (UEFISCDI) Romania, ‘Collegium Talentum Programme’ of Hungary, Eötvös Loránd University’s ‘Homeland higher education study grant’; Slovak Research Agency VEGA nr. 2/0140/21; Vector Control Needs Assessment in Cyprus, contracted by the World Health Organization (reference 2020/1040069-0); Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Regions (Regional Prevention Plans ‘Entomological Surveillance of vector-borne diseases’ in the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Regions); the Institute of Public Health, Albania under the program of mosquitoes control in urban and coastal areas.

For vector-borne diseases, producing abundance maps is a necessary step for risk mapping, which is an important tool to help focusing surveillance actions. Such as mapping requires sampling vector insects at a national/regional scale, which is quite difficult due to important heterogeneity in spatial distribution and in temporal dynamics. In Morocco, Culicoides biting midges were responsible for African horse sickness (AHS) outbreaks in the 1960s and the most recently in the late 1980s. They are also involved in the enzootic transmission of bluetongue (BT) virus since 2004. We aimed to produce first abundance maps for most abundant Culicoides species, and then risk maps for BTV and AHSV, across Morocco. In 2016, we compared species diversity in ruminant farms and in horse holding to determine if abundance maps derived from sampling in ruminant farms could be used to generate risk maps for both AHS and BT viruses. In 2017, we carried out a cross-sectional survey at the national scale. We used a stratified sampling strategy using eco-agronomic zones, with which we hypothesized homogeneity of Culicoides diversity and dynamics. We used historical collection time series to determine periods of abundance peak according to climatic zonation. This strategy allowed us to plan a national sampling of Culicoides abundance. In 2016, we found the same species in cattle and horse holdings. In addition, Culicoides paolae – reported in the literature as associated with Barbary fig trees, and Culicoides scoticus were recorded for the first time in Morocco. These records were confirmed by molecular assay. In 2017, collection campaign was conducted twice a year (from late April to June and from September to October): 144 farms were trapped during this period. At each visit, Culicoides populations were sampled for 48 consecutive hours using a light trap. A total we obtained 262 samples. Samples were currently under identification process. The next step will be to determine ecological drivers of abundance and distribution to provide accurate Culicoides mapping across Morocco.

Vector abundance maps are a necessary step in mapping the risks associated with vector-borne diseases to help target surveillance and control actions. Risk mapping requires sampling vector species at different scales, which is made difficult by heterogeneity in vector spatial distribution and dynamics. In Morocco, Culicoides were responsible for African horse sickness (AHS) outbreaks in the 1960s and late 1980s. Since 2004, Morocco is facing an endemic situation of bluetongue virus (BTV) transmission. Our study aimed to produce first abundance maps for the most abundant Culicoides species, and risk maps for BTV and AHSV, across the country. We conducted a national cross-sectional survey using a stratified sampling strategy based on eco-agronomic zoning, for which we hypothesized the homogeneity of Culicoides diversity and dynamics. Historical collection time series were used to determine maximum abundance periods based on climate zonation. This strategy allowed to plan a national sampling of Culicoides abundance during a single collection season. Collections were conducted twice a year with 144 farms trapped. Culicoides were sampled for consecutive 48h using a suction light trap. We obtained a total of 262 samples under identification process. The results so far have shown that C. imicola was the most common species (present in at least 70% of the sites), followed by C. circumscriptus (absent at mild altitudes) and C. kingi (mostly present in the south). Culicoides obsoletus/C. scoticus have been collected frequently in the country, including in the south. This highlighted the wide and unexpected spatial distribution of these species from Scandinavia to North Africa reinforcing the existence of sibling species. Other species have also been identified, such as C. puncticollis, C. newsteadi, C. catanei/C. gegjelensis (rather present in the north on the coast), C. punctatus (rare in the south), C. pulicaris/C. lupicaris and C. kurensis. Interestingly, although C. paolae is mentioned in the literature as being associated with prickly pears in the Mediterranean basin, this species was absent in many areas heavily vegetated by this fig tree. This original dataset will be used to determine the ecological factors of the abundance and distribution of Culicoides of veterinary interest in order to provide accurate mapping of vector-related risks across Morocco.

International audience

The data package described here includes those Culicoides species first modelled in 2015 as part of the VBORNET gap analysis work. It comprises nine species models for Europe and neighboring regions. The species included as part of this phase are, the midges C. imicola, C. obsoletus, C. scoticus, C. dewulfi, C. chiopterus, C. pulicaris, C. lupicaris, C. punctatus, andC. newsteadi.This data is presented in the Open Health Data Journal.