Austrian mosquito species inventory (diptera: culicidae) with a detailed analysis of the Anopheles maculipennis species complex

Mosquitoes serve as competent vectors of various pathogens. Vector-pathogen interactions, as well as ecology and spatiotemporal distributions, are often species-specific, highlighting the need to monitor the presence and abundance of different mosquito species. While morphological examination for species identification remains widely used in monitoring programs, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, offer a greater taxonomic resolution. Accurate species assignment however, depends on updated and reliable reference databases. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish a curated collection of DNA barcodes of Austrian mosquitoes, including the Anopheles maculipennis complex. In total, 304 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene barcodes were obtained from 40 different Austrian mosquito species and subspecies across seven genera. Moreover, three An. maculipennis species complex members (An. daciae, An. maculipennis s.s., An. messeae) were detected in Austria. All sequences were uploaded to NCBI GenBank and BOLD Systems to contribute to stable and correct public databases. While these results help improve the identification and differentiation of mosquito species, this curated database can also serve as the basis for establishing future applications, such as NGS-based DNA barcoding.