Gabi Müller

Urban Pest Advisory Service, City of Zurich, Switzerland · Department for Public Health and Environment City of Zurich

Zürich hat als einzige Stadt der Schweiz eine Schädlingspräventionsstelle (SPZ) mit Spezialistinnen und Spezialisten, die im Rahmen der Stadthygiene für Schädlinge im und ums Haus zuständig sind. Wichtige Aufgaben sind die Beratung der Bevölkerung bezüglich Schädlinge und andere in Gebäuden auftretende Insekten/Arthropoden und Vertebraten, die Erfa...

In late summer of 2023 bed bug (Cimex lectularius) infestations received much media attention especially from Paris Fashion Week (2023–09–25/2023–10–03). Concern in France has grown in recent years and the public may have been sensitised from the recent release of the report Les punaises de lit: impacts, prévention et lutte from the Agence National...

Simple Summary Zurich’s Urban Pest Advisory Service (UPAS) gives the public the opportunity to report household pests and join attempts to reduce potential health threats. More than fifty thousand records, dating back to the 1990s, provide information on the changing prevalence of pest problems in Zurich. Cockroaches declined most notably over this...

In Zürich wurde ein Befall mit der invasiven gebietsfremden Ameisenart Tapinoma magnum bei einem Häuserblock festgestellt. Die Bekämpfung erfolgte mit verschiedenen Produkten über einen längeren Zeitraum. Am Ende konnte eine Tilgung erreicht werden.

At the end of April 2018, a pest control company brought three termite soldiers and some alates to the Urban Pest Advisory Service (UPAS) for species determination. They were found in a building in a medium-sized city on Lake Zurich (Canton Zurich). A mitochondrial DNA analysis by the University of Bologna, Italy, resulted in the species Reticulite...

In Switzerland Tapinoma magnum, an invasive ant species in northern and central Europe, was first observed in the canton of Vaud in 2012 and 2018 found in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich. In the spring of 2019, the Urban Pest Advisory Service collected ants from the front yard of a residential estate of 11 houses in the city of Zurich, where massi...

The house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) is a thermophilic species mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region. This nocturnal predator kills its pray with toxic bites. As early as shortly after the last Ice Age it has settled in the “Kaiserstuhl”, one of the warmest regions in Germany. Proceeding from these first settlements it has establish...

Switzerland has no native termite species. Historically, drywood termites have been introduced on six occasions, and subterranean termites were introduced on two occasions (Reticulitermes lucifugus and an undetermined Reticulitermes species). Only one of these introductions resulted in establishment; however it was subsequently eradicated. A new su...

Rat hepatitis E virus (HEV) is genetically only distantly related to hepeviruses found in other mammalian reservoirs and in humans. It was initially detected in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) from Germany, and subsequently in rats from Vietnam, the USA, Indonesia, China, Denmark and France. Here, we report on a molecular survey of Norway rats and...

The invasive insects brown marmorated stink bug, western conifer seed bug, harlequin ladybird and box tree moth all appeared in Switzerland within the last 10 years. While the first three species use buildings to overwinter and are a nuisance to home owners in autumn and spring when they enter or leave the buildings, the latter species is a pest of...

Abstract In July 2015 the Invasive Garden Ant, Lasius neglectus, was identified during control measures in an apartment house in the city of Zurich. This was the second finding of this species in Switzerland and the first finding in an inhabited area. In order to find out the distribution of the population, the surroundings were sampled for ants in...

The oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) turned up in several buildings of two different blocks in the city of Zürich. Different pest control companies performed various uncoordinated control measures with unsatisfying results but reported cockroach activity in the backyards of these blocks during the warmer periods of the year. The Urban Pest Ad...

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 heal...

In spring 2009 several cases of infestation with Ornithonyssus bacoti («tropical rat mite») in pet rodents have been diagnosed at the Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich. Although adequate animal hosts were present, owners also became victims of mite infestation. The owners presented cutaneous lesions such as pruritic red papules partly...

Im Frühjahr 2009 wurden mehrere Fälle von Infestationen mit Ornithonyssus bacoti («Tropische Rattenmilbe») bei Heimnagern am Institut für Parasitologie in Zürich diagnostiziert. Obschon geeignete Wirtstiere zugegen waren, wurden auch die Besitzer Opfer der Milbeninfestation. Die Tierbesitzer zeigten stark juckende, in Gruppen angeordnete erythematö...

The Hamilton & Zuk hypothesis (Hamilton & Zuk 1982) was tested in the European minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus (L.), where the male breeding characters include tubercles, which are horny growths on the skin of the head, and a bright red abdomen. Two trematode parasite species, neither directly transmitted, were present: Diplostomum phoxini in the brains...

The Urban Pest Advisory Service (UPAS) is responsible for urban pests in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. We give approximately 2,000 consultations per year concerning pests and their control, survey the pest situation in the city and control rats in public areas. We present data on the temporal changes in the occurrence of some important pest spec...

The Urban Pest Advisory Service (UPAS) is responsible for urban pests in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. We give approximately 2,000 consultations per year concerning pests and their control; we survey the pest situation in the city and control rats in public areas. Through a survey made among pest control companies we found that pharaoh ants usua...

In this paper we examine the taxonomy of E. vittiventris (Ectobiinae) and its distribution and phenology in Switzerland. An illustrated key and a diagnosis are provided to separate the adults from synanthropic cockroaches and from some native Ectobius spp. Descriptive notes are included for nymphs and oothecae. We furthermore discuss the taxonomic...

Korrespondenz) 2 Beratungsstelle Schädlingsbekämpfung (BSB), Umwelt-und Gesundheitsschutz Zürich (UGZ), Walchestrasse 33, CH-8035 Zürich, Schweiz. 3 Naturhistorisches Museum, Augustinergasse 2, CH-4001 Basel, Schweiz. Taxonomy of the field-dwelling cockroach Ectobius vittiventris (A. Costa, 1847) (Blattodea: Blattellidae) and its distribution in Sw...

The Urban Pest Advisory Service with three part-time employees is responsible for the hygienic as- pects concerning urban pests in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. The city has a surface of 9,200 hectares and 360,000 inhabitants. The main fields of work are the following: 1. to give advice to the public and the local pest control companies (animal...

An electrophoretic study of genetic variation at 11 loci was performedfor a population of European minnows, Phoxinus phoxinus (L.). Ten loci, EST-1 *, EST-2 * EST-3 *,GPD-1 *,GPD-2 *,GPI-1 *,GPI-2 *,MPI *,6PGD * and PGM * were polymorphic. IDH *wasmonomorphic. The mean number of heterozygotic loci over all 176 fish was 3.05 0.104(SE). Observed mean...

The influence of parasites on the breeding biology of the European minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) was studied by examining 268 adult and 59 young-of-the-year minnows from an artificial Swiss Alpine lake for parasites during the breeding seasons in 1990 and 1991. Two trematode parasites;Diplostomum phoxini, in their brains, andMacrolecithus papilliger,...