Neotype Designation for Aedes (Stegomyia) Albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae)

摘要

Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) is one of the most common and widespread species of mosquito throughout Southeast Asia as well as being one of the most important. from a standpoint of disease transmission. It belongs to a group of closely related species which are not easily separated and unfortunately erroneous identifications are not infrequent among collections submitted to us. It seems that many of the records of this species which appear in the literature must be accepted with some reservation. It is hoped that the present study of the subgenus being undertaken by the South East Asia Mosquito Project (SEAMP) will in due course help to clarify the situation. According to Skuse's original description, made from 3 females, the type of albopictus was deposited in the Australian Museum. According to Stone et al. (1959) , the type was in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. However, enquiries addressed to these and other museums in Australia and elsewhere have failed to show that any type material is still in existence. In view of this it becomes imperative to designate a neotype for this important species. In the present paper a detailed description of this neotype is given. In addition, some diagnostic characters for separating albopictus from closely related species, which have often been misidentified, are also given in order to assist field workers.