Historical and modern distribution data of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti in the western Palaearctic region

Data set encompassing published historical (&lt;1980) and modern (&gt;=1980) distribution data of the invasive yellow fever mosquito <em>Aedes aepgyti </em>in the western palaearctic region, with all original references. Historical European distribution data collection was obtained through an online literature search in Ovid MEDLINE®, CAB direct, and Web of Science, without year and language restrictions applied and, mainly, by reference tracking. Modern mosquito distribution data have been collected routinely within the VectorNet project via online systematic literature search, reference tracking, and grey literature and unpublished dataset sharing. For both the historical and modern periods, mosquito introductions without evidence of establishment were excluded from the dataset. Modern records which could not be substantiated following information exchanges with the authors or with local colleagues were also excluded (Algeria, Lebanon).