Mosquito collection

Convenience whole-body mosquito samples (n = 3514) were trapped in summer (July and September, 2014) in 24 provinces of China, and in the whole year (September 2013 to August 2014) in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province with hand nets, for an epidemiological survey of Rickettsia (Fig 1) [16,17]. Once captured, the mosquitoes were immediately protected separately in sterile tubes containing 400 μL of DNA/RNA stabilization reagent (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). To prevent cross contamination, disposable gloves were changed before the collection of each mosquito. Then the samples were transported at room temperature to the laboratory for species and gender identification and DNA extraction.

A total of 3514 samples of mosquitoes’ whole bodies (convenience samples) were collected in 25 provinces of China, including Aedes albopictus (n = 349), Anopheles sinensis (n = 88), Armigeres subalbatus (n = 502), Culex pipiens (n = 2495) and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (n = 80). Different colored dots represented different species of mosquitoes, including Ae. albopictus (brown), An. sinensis (blue), Ar. subalbatus (red), Cx. pipiens (green) and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (purple). The numbers in the region of each province indicated the positive/ total numbers of mosquitoes.