Yellow Fever Mosquitoes arrive in LA County

A new pest is now buzzing around Los Angeles County: the Yellow Fever Mosquito.  

These aggressive little buggers made their debut in Commerce and Pico Rivera earlier this month, according to vector control officials. Their normal habitats are in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world.

Like two other recent imports, these guys bite a lot more than native mosquitoes and they do so during the day, which is one way you can easily tell they're not LA. natives.

If your eyesight is sharp you might also be able to distinguish them by their black color, accented with white stripes around their legs.  But the biggest distinction from the local buggy crowd  - and the biggest concern of health officials -  is that these mosquitoes can transmit diseases.  And that's another way they're similar to the newly-imported Asian Tiger Mosquito and the Australian Backyard Mosquito.

"They transmit several tropic viruses, like Yellow Fever, Dengue  and Chikungunya," Jason Farned, spokesman for the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District says of the three varieties. 

The good news, Farned says, is those viruses are not yet circulating around L.A. County, although there is concern that travelers could bring them in.

To help stop the spread of these new mosquito varietals, health officials are asking  you to report any daytime mosquito bites to your local vector agency and to rid your property of water in small containers, where these bugs like to breed.