New Data on the Incidence of Household Arthropod Pests and New Invasive Pests in Zurich (Switzerland)

Abstract:
The Urban Pest Advisory Service (UPAS) is responsible for urban pests in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. We advise approximately 2’000 people per year who have questions or problems regarding arthropods and their control, we survey the pest situation in the city and control rats in public areas. Since 2004 we work on projects regarding public health. We present data on the temporal changes in the occurrence of some important pest species from 1994 to 2010 in Zurich, based on the frequency of inquiries by the public. Inquiries concerning the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, and the brown-banded cockroach, Supella longipalpa, have decreased significantly, whereas inquiries regarding the Oriental cockroach, Blatta orientalis, have remained more or less on the same low level. In 2010 its number was unusually high due to a block of 23 houses with B. orientalis problems for several years. We coordinated the monitoring and control in these houses, the street and in the courtyard. The number of bed bug (Cimex lectularius) problems has increased exponentially since 1999. Complaints concerning the pentatomid bug Halyomorpha halys also increased exponentially. This new invasive species seeks houses to hibernate and is therefore annoying to people especially in autumn and spring. The Asian bush mosquito, Aedes japonicus japonicus, was first found in Switzerland in 2008. At that time it already colonized an area of 1400 km2. In 2010 the colonized area was more than three times as large.