Arboviruses remain some of the most stubbornly persistent public health threats globally, with over 100 million infections annually from pathogens such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses1,2. After decades with few effective tools to combat their spread, Wolbachia has emerged as a transformative technology to combat multiple arboviral threats concurrently3. Wolbachia is a bacterium that is found in about half of insect species but not in Aedes aegypti in the wild4,5. However, when Ae. aegypti mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia in the laboratory, they are less able to transmit arboviruses. For example, mosquitoes infected with the wMel strain of Wolbachia have at least 90% reduction in vector competence for dengue viruses6. Further, when Wolbachia-infected Ae. aegypti males mate with wildtype mosquitoes, the offspring do not survive. This provides a reproductive advantage to the Wolbachia-infected females who will transmit the bacterium to the next generation, resulting in the spread of Wolbachia through the population. These findings have led to large field trials and planned deployments across the globe. A randomized controlled trial in Indonesia demonstrated that the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes led to a 78% drop in dengue cases in the release zones3. Virtually all releases to date have been done with the Wolbachia strain wMel using local mosquito strains, however, not all these releases have been successful. wMel was unable to penetrate local mosquitoes at all in Tri Nguyen, Vietnam and only resulted with intermediate levels of introgression in Rio de Janeiro, despite the release of over 70 million insects7,8. The reasons why introgression succeeds in some places and not others remains unclear, but temperature is likely critical9. High temperatures lower the density of Wolbachia in mosquito cells, which can reduce both the vertical transmission of Wolbachia to offspring and the reproductive incompatibility maintaining Wolbachia in populations10,11. These observations have led to the consideration of the use of other Wolbachia strains for future release programs, for example wAlbB has been successfully trialed in Malaysia12.