A Tandem Metabarcoding and Taxonomic Forensics Approach to Surveillance of Mosquito–Plant Interactions for Culex quinquefasciatus in Florida

Interactions with plants are an important aspect of mosquito vector biology and ecology because mosquitoes often use plants as nutritional resources. Plant DNA metabarcoding is a recent approach to address this topic. <i>Culex quinquefasciatus</i> is a vector of several important pathogens in Florida and is subject to significant control efforts, but no studies to date have explored what plants they may feed on. We addressed this by conducting a statewide collection of <i>Cx. quinquefasciatus</i> from six Florida counties and subjected them to plant DNA metabarcoding and cross-referenced the identified plants to a Florida state plant voucher database for each sampled county. A total of 30 families and 47 genera were identified. Plants included many that are cultivated and non-cultivated in Florida, including backyard garden produce, grasses, and some invasive species. Concurrence of plant families and genera was generally high in the respective sampled counties based on available plant vouchers. These data provide the first statewide survey of plants associated with <i>Cx. quinquefasciatus</i> in Florida. This information serves as an important basis for confirming plant taxa that are important to <i>Cx. quinquefasciatus</i>, which could translate to the development of better control strategies and tools.