As of: February 1, 2024, 8:22 a.m
By: Lukas Schierlinger
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Climate change is favoring the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito.
The city of Munich is pushing ahead with its insect monitoring.
Munich – “The goal is to detect and combat possible settlement at an early stage.” Munich’s third mayor Verena Dietl (SPD) set the tone when presenting the current report on tiger mosquito monitoring.
In 2023, the health department found a total of 21 Asian tiger mosquitoes during checks on traps set up in the city.
Citizens sent in four more copies.
Fight against Asian tiger mosquitoes in Munich: Climate change is likely to accelerate its spread
The Asian tiger mosquito feels comfortable in warmer temperatures.
In regions where it has become permanently established, it is considered an important vector of various infectious diseases.
Among other things, Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika fever.
So far, these diseases do not occur in this country.
“The risk of infection from a tiger mosquito bite remains very low in Munich,” the health department said in a statement.
In the Central Franconian city of Fürth, the authorities have also stepped up the fight against the bloodsucker in recent years.
A total of 25 specimens of the Asian tiger mosquito were seized in Munich in 2023.
© IMAGO / Pond5 Images
Due to climate change, a spread of the diurnal insect must be expected, Mayor Dietl reported to the city council's health committee.
Tiger mosquito monitoring in the city has therefore been expanded.
Health officer Beatrix Zurek (SPD) explains the procedure: “We have set up mosquito traps in selected places such as cemeteries, allotment gardens and potential entry points into the city of Munich and evaluated them regularly.
Through monitoring, potential laying sites for tiger mosquito eggs can be identified and cleaned or, on a case-by-case basis, treated with an agent that neutralizes mosquito larvae so that new tiger mosquitoes cannot develop.”
Asian tiger mosquitoes fall into the trap in Munich: 15 specimens in a hotspot
The area around the Hackerbrücke proved to be a “potential entry point into the city of Munich”.
A total of 15 specimens of the Asian tiger mosquito fell into the traps of the health department there.
Railway lines are often the focus because the insects spread via container routes.
About the size of a dime, the tiger mosquito is smaller than most native species.
It can be recognized by a few characteristics, as the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) explains:
black and white ringed body and black and white ringed legs
significantly darker than native mosquito species
a white line running down the middle of the head that continues on the chest
transparent wings without any noticeable pattern
aggressive stinging behavior, even during the day
“Important to clean or avoid breeding sites”
The tiger mosquito is adapted to the urban environment and uses even the smallest accumulations of water as breeding grounds to lay eggs.
Buckets, rain barrels, watering cans, flower vases, bird baths or clogged gutters are enough.
The health department gives tips: “It is important to clean such breeding sites regularly - even before the beginning of spring - or to avoid them.
Water collection containers such as rain barrels or cisterns can be covered with a tight-meshed net so that mosquitoes cannot get to the water.”
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In 2024, Munich residents are also called upon to capture conspicuous insects - and send them to the LGL or the “Mosquito Atlas”.
The submissions are then analyzed and mapped there.