Variation in the Length of the Median Pale Band on the Proboscis of Aedes taeniorhynchus

摘要

Aedes (Ochlerotatus) taeniorhynchus is a common pestiferous mosquito-species found along the coasts and inland saline areas from New Hampshire to Brazil, and from California to Peru, as well as the Antilles and the Galapagos Islands. The presence of a well-developed, median, palescaled band on the proboscis (BP) of adult females is an important diagnostic character used to separate Ae. taeniorhynchus, Ae. (Och) mitchellae (Dyar) Ae. (Och.) sillicitans (Walker) and Ae. (Och.) nigromaculis from other Nearctic species of the genus Aedes. During an arbovirus research project involving identification of field-collected mosquitoes, several Aedes specimens were encountered which could not be identified by using the keys of Carpenter and La Casse (1955) and Darsie and Ward (1981). These specimens lacked pale scales on the probosics, but based upon detailed descriptions by Carpenter and LaCasse (1955) and Belkin et al. (1970), they were eventually determined to be Ae. taeniorlynchus. The purpose of this paper is to describe the variation in the size of the BP in Ae. taeniorhynchus.28