| Summary: | <i>Wolbachia</i> is an endosymbiotic bacterium that naturally infects several arthropods and nematode species. <i>Wolbachia</i> gained particular attention due to its impact on their host fitness and the capacity of specific <i>Wolbachia</i> strains in reducing pathogen vector and agricultural pest populations and pathogens transmission. Despite the success of mosquito/pathogen control programs using <i>Wolbachia</i>-infected mosquito release, little is known about the abundance and distribution of <i>Wolbachia</i> in most mosquito species, a crucial knowledge for planning and deployment of mosquito control programs and that can further improve our basic biology understanding of <i>Wolbachia</i> and host relationships. In this systematic review, <i>Wolbachia</i> was detected in only 30% of the mosquito species investigated. Fourteen percent of the species were considered positive by some studies and negative by others in different geographical regions, suggesting a variable infection rate and/or limitations of the <i>Wolbachia</i> detection methods employed. Eighty-three percent of the studies screened <i>Wolbachia</i> with only one technique. Our findings highlight that the assessment of <i>Wolbachia</i> using a single approach limited the inference of true <i>Wolbachia</i> infection in most of the studied species and that researchers should carefully choose complementary methodologies and consider different <i>Wolbachia</i>-mosquito population dynamics that may be a source of bias to ascertain the correct infectious status of the host species.
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