00:00We've been working on invasive mosquitoes for 20 years.
00:02We've been running traps in the UK for 16 years,
00:04and over that time we've detected invasive mosquitoes on a number of occasions.
00:07So you always know that you're likely to find something,
00:11either an image every time a member of the public sends an image in, we have a look.
00:15And we have some British mosquitoes that look very similar, so we're always careful.
00:20And on this occasion, it was quite clear that it was an invasive mosquito.
00:25It was surprising to find the Aedes aegypti mosquito,
00:28so we were well rehearsed and we have a contingency plan.
00:31This year we've had five heatwaves, and the warmer it is,
00:35it means that it's more likely that tropical mosquitoes can survive.
00:38We would normally expect to detect the tiger mosquito,
00:42but this is, as you know, it's the Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito.
00:46This mosquito actually isn't established anywhere in northern Europe.
00:50So the nearest locations are sort of the eastern Mediterranean and on Madeira.
00:54So it's likely that this is an incursion, an accidental incursion,
00:59possibly through travel or through plants,
01:02and it's just managed to find its way into London at a time when we're getting above 30 degree temperatures,
01:08and it's able to sort of lay some eggs and breed.
01:12Thank you very much.
