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WRBU: “Know The Vector, Know The Threat”

WRBU: “Know The Vector, Know The Threat”. Pollie L.M. Rueda, Ph.D. Rick Wilkerson, Ph.D. Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU) Entomology Division, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Silver Spring, MD 20910 Office address: WRBU, Smithsonian Institution

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WRBU: “Know The Vector, Know The Threat”

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  1. WRBU: “Know The Vector, Know The Threat” Pollie L.M. Rueda, Ph.D. Rick Wilkerson, Ph.D. Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU) Entomology Division, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Silver Spring, MD 20910 Office address: WRBU, Smithsonian Institution 4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD 20746

  2. The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU), Department of Entomology, DCD&I, WRAIR • Basic and applied systematics research on mosquitoes of medical importance.

  3. Primary Activities and Goals • Morphological and molecular systematics research on vector species and vector species groups • Provide identification resources in paper and electronic formats • Provide identifications to DOD • Curate the National Mosquito Collection • Support DOD research, e.g. arbovirus surveys, repellent trials - provide quality control on identifications

  4. History • 1964 Army Mosquito Project (AMP) • 1966 Southeast Asia Mosquito Project (SEAMP) • 1974 Medical Entomology Project (MEP) • 1981 Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU) • Approximately 18 military officers, 11 civilians, 32 adjunct personnel and collaborators • 409+ publications; 12,000+ pages

  5. Collaboration with Smithsonian • Facilities, services, collection infrastructure support, etc… • Use of sequencing resources of Laboratory of Analytical Biology (LAB) • Emu (Electronic Museum) capture of Mosquitoes of Middle America collection records • Grants for scanning literature and alcohol collection maintenance

  6. Components needed for systematics research and taxonomic identifications • Personnel • Collection • Literature

  7. PersonnelWRBU • Dr. Rick Wilkerson, Research Entomologist/Curator • Dr. Pollie Rueda, Research Entomologist/Curator • Mr. Tom Gaffigan, Biol. Sci. Lab. Tech • Mr. Jim Pecor, Biol. Sci. Lab. Tech • Army Officer - MAJ Mark Potter • Contract technicians, illustrator, post docs, visiting scientists, SI research associate, graduate students, volunteers

  8. WRBU • Large mosquito systematics reprint collection • Caretakers of World’s largest (best?) mosquito collection (about 1.5 million specimens)

  9. Primary projects • Identification tools for medically important mosquitoes of the PACOM*, CENTCOM*, SOUTHCOM, EUCOM (Africa) Areas of Responsibility • Lucid keys • Species pages • Updating catalog, reprints, pdfs, web • Identification tools for medically important sand flies of the CENTCOM Areas of Responsibility • Lucid keys • Species pages • New catalog • Modeling the potential distribution of vectors

  10. Fig. 5.Anopheles sinensis Wiedemann (red dots, occurrence points; blue areas, predicted distribution in South Korea).

  11. Fig. 8.Anopheles minimus Theobald A (red dots, occurrence points; blue areas, predicted distribution in Southeast Asia).

  12. MosquitoMap logo www.mosquitomap.org ----website being developed to host global mosquito occurrence data and mosquito distribution models.

  13. Current Projects • Neotropical Anopheles • An. (Nys.) albitarsis complex (marajoara) • An. (Nys.) oswaldoi complex • An. (Nys.) triannulatus complex • An. (Ano.) crucians complex* • Review of An. subgenus Kerteszia • Korean/China malaria vectors • Application of molecular tools for solution of taxonomic problems and development of diagnostics

  14. An. kleini Rueda An. belenrae Rueda

  15. Current Projects/Activities • Vector Identification Service (VIS) • Support of malaria, dengue, repellent studies • Collaborations in Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, China, Japan, Korea, Georgia • Collection curation • Lab and basic identification training • Training of DOD entomologists

  16. Current Projects/Activities • Mosquito/Sand fly* Systematics Information Resource • Update/publish mosquito/sand fly* taxonomic catalog • Scan all systematics literature • Make all literature available in digital format • Annotate catalog to allow retrieval of keys and other identification materials by country, region or mosquito group • Convert catalog into a database • Web page development -- access to all literature, field and lab protocols, identification aids and services

  17. Website - • http://wrbu.org

  18. http://wrbu.org/

  19. http://www.mosquitocatalog.org

  20. Web-identification keys • Please try running our keys to ID your mosquito specimens • Keys – still in a “beta format”; need further expert/user reviews and corrections before the final format. • Email us any corrections, comments, etc to improve the keys, and the website as a whole. Contact the webmaster (click), Pollie Rueda (ruedapol@si.edu) or Rick Wilkerson (wilkersonr@si.edu)

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