RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 No evidence for insecticide resistance in a homogenous population of Aedes albopictus in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.06.05.136135 DO 10.1101/2020.06.05.136135 A1 Mundis, Stephanie J. A1 Hamerlinck, Gabriela A1 Stone, Emily K. A1 Whiteman, Ari A1 Delmelle, Eric A1 Rapp, Tyler A1 Dulin, Michael A1 Ryan, Sadie J. YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/05/2020.06.05.136135.abstract AB Aedes albopictus is a cosmopolitan mosquito species capable of transmitting arboviral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. To control this and similar species, public and private entities often rely on pyrethroid insecticides. Insecticide resistance status and physiological traits, such as body size, may contribute to local patterns of abundance, which is important for planning vector control. In this study, we genetically screened Ae. albopictus collected from June to August, 2017, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, for mutations conferring pyrethroid resistance, and examined spatiotemporal patterns of specimen size, as measured by wing length. We hypothesized that size variation would be associated with factors found to influence abundance in similar populations of Ae. albopictus, and could therefore serve as a proxy measure. The genetic screening results indicated that known pyrethroid resistance alleles in two kdr regions are not present in this population. We detected no significant associations between wing length and socioeconomic and landscape factors, but mosquitoes collected in June had significantly longer wing length than in July or August. The lack of resistance indicators suggest that this population has not developed insecticide resistance via voltage-gated sodium channel mutations. The greater wing lengths in June are likely driven by meteorological patterns, suggesting that short-term weather cues may modulate morphological characteristics that, in turn, affect local fecundity and virus transmission potential.