Two specimens of black and white mosquitoes were provided to the Cyprus Institute/Joint Services Health Unit team. The mosquito specimens were collected on 28/7/2022 and 29/07/2022 from Agios Ioannis Limassol and Livadia Pitsilias in Nicosia by citizen-scientists members of the Aedes watch out network, who follow The Three Mosquiteers project on social media. Both specimens were examined at the Joint Services Health Unit laboratory but they were not in a good condition, making morphological identification to species level impossible. Photographic records of the specimens were also sent to Francis Schaffner Consultancy Switzerland, but it was not possible to identify the species from the photographic records either. Two types of mosquito traps (BG sentinel traps with BG lure-Biogents, Regensburg, Germany but also EVS CO2-Bioquip, US) were provided to the members of the citizen science network in Limassol and mosquitoes were trapped. Human Landing Catches (HLCs) were also performed by the members of the entomological team.

The first specimens and selected samples were sent to the National Museum of Natural History in Luxembourg where all the specimens from Limassol were identified as Aedes albopictus by Dr Alexander Weigand while the specimen from Nicosia was identified as Aedes cretinus. Aedes cretinus is a native species to the Mediterranean and till 2022 it was the only species collected by citizen scientists in Cyprus (Martinou et al. 2017;2021; Yetismis et al. 2022). Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti were predicted to arrive in Cyprus in the next ten years, during two horizon scanning exercises that took place in 2018 and 2019 (Peyton et al. 2019; Peyton et al. 2020). By the end of October 2022 we had records from 6 sites in Limassol for Aedes albopictus with new records arising daily. Specimens are collected and stored at -80°C at the Joint Services Health Unit. Given the recent introduction of Aedes albopictus and the re-introduction or re-emergence of Aedes aegypti it is imperative that all the public health authorities take eradication measures as soon as possible against the two invasive mosquitoes and work together on an island wide eradication plan (Martinou & Roy, 2018; Martinou et al. 2020)