Abstract Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium that can infect Aedes mosquitoes and reduce the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya. Field trials worldwide have explored its potential for epidemic control. We introduce a partial differential equation model to simulate the spatial spread of Wolbachia infection in mosquito populations. The model incorporates detailed mosquito life stages, intricate Wolbachia maternal transmission and two-dimensional mosquito d