Abstract
The Asian Dger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is currently the most widespread invasive mosquito species in the world. It poses a significant threat to human health, as it is a vector for several arboviruses. We used a SNP chip to genotype 748 Ae. albopictus mosquitoes from 41 localiDes across Europe, 28 localiDes in the naDve range in Asia, and four in the Americas. Using mulDple algorithms, we examined populaDon geneDc structure and differenDaDon within Europe and across our global dataset to gain insight into the origin of the invasive European populaDons. We also compared results from our SNP data to those obtained using genotypes from 11 microsatellite loci (N=637 mosquitoes from 25 European localiDes) to explore how sampling effort and the type of geneDc marker used may influence conclusions about Ae. albopictus populaDon structure. While some analyses detected more than 20 clusters worldwide, we found mosquitoes could be grouped into seven disDnct geneDc clusters, with most European populaDons originaDng in East Asia (Japan or China). InteresDngly, some populaDons in Eastern Europe did not share geneDc ancestry with any populaDons from the naDve range or Americas, indicaDng that these populaDons originated from areas not sampled in this study. The SNP and microsatellite datasets found similar paWerns of geneDc differenDaDon in Europe, but the microsatellite dataset could not detect the more subtle geneDc structure revealed using SNPs. Overall, data from the SNP chip offered a higher resoluDon for detecDng the geneDc structure and the potenDal origins of invasions.