Wolbachia is a naturally occurring endosymbiont in many arthropods and nematodes which can be maternally inherited and cause different reproductive abnormalities. Wolbachia infection in dengue vector mosquitoes is widely tested for vector population suppression using cytoplasmic incompatibility and population replacement as Wolbachia suppresses the development of dengue virus in mosquitoes.Dengue is a major public health concern in Sri Lanka including the Jaffna district.Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are considered as vectors of dengue in Sri Lanka. With this background a survey was carried out in the Jaffna district to screen natural population of Ae. albopictus for the presence of Wolbachia. 

Ovitraps were used to collect Ae. albopictus mosquitoes from 75 randomly selected 1 km² grids covering the entire Jaffna district. Five ovitraps were placed in each grid. Collected larvae from each ovitraps were brought to the laboratory and reared in the insectary under laboratory conditions. The  Ae. albopictus were identified among emerged adults based on standard taxonomic key. Ovaries were dissected out from five females collected from each grid and were pooled to extract the DNA.  PCR assays were performed to detect the presence of Wolbachia using strain specific primers. The results showed that Ae. albopictus were present in 71/75 grids containing 163/375 ovitraps. Molecular data revealed that all tested samples were positive for the presence of wAlbA and wAlbB strains of Wolbachia.  Further studies needed to confirm the vector potentiality of Wolbachia infected Ae. albopictus.