Life-history stage and the population genetics of the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus at a fine spatial scale

As a widespread vector of disease, the mosquito species Aedes albopictus Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae) is a high priority for both public health and invasive species research and management. Like all mosquitoes, A. albopictus has a complex life history with aquatic egg, larval, and pupal stages and a terrestrial adult stage. This requires targeted management strategies for each life stage, coordinated across time and space. Researchers use population genetics to inform control of A. albopictus. However, these studies do not consider the impact on life stage on population genetic characteristics and subsequent conclusions. Our objective was to examine whether the life stage impacted patterns of A. albopictus genetic diversity and differentiation at a spatial scale relevant to management efforts. We first conducted a literature review of field-caught A. albopictus population genetic papers and identified 74 peer-reviewed publications, none of which compared results between life stages. We them examined population genetic patterns of egg and adult A. albopictus at five sites in Wake County, North Carolina USA using 8,425 single nucleotide polymorphisms. We found that level of genetic diversity and connectivity between sites varied between adults and eggs. This warrants further study and is critical for research aimed at informing local management.We have included the raw plink file using the STACKS de novo pipeline and population pipeline parameters highlighted in the manuscript. We have also included the RAW post-process radtag data files and a population map