Genus Levua Stone & Bohart, 1944
Levua suvae (Stone & Bohart, 1944) [synonym of Aedes geoskusea Amos, 1944], original combination: Aedes (Levua) suvae.
Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini. Levua is monobasic. Genus abbreviation – Le.
The following combinations of features distinguish Levua from other genera of Aedini. Characters that diagnose Levua in the phylogenetic analyses of Reinert et al. (2009) and Huang et al. (2010) are indicated by an asterisk (*) and a dagger (†) respectively.
ADULTS – Dark unornamented mosquitoes; *decumbent scales of vertex all narrow; antenna of male not strongly verticillate; proboscis longer than forefemur; maxillary palpus of female scarcely longer than clypeus, maxillary palpus of male about 0.2 length of proboscis; scutellum with narrow scales on *mid and *lateral lobes; *mesokatepisternal scales in 2 patches; lower mesepimeral setae absent; *†wing of males with dorsal tertiary fringe scales on proximal 0.50; hindtarsomere 1 shorter than hindtibia; ungues of female all simple. FEMALE GENITALIA – Cercus long, *†cercus/dorsal postgenital lobe index ≥ 4.90. MALE GENITALIA – Tergum IX lobes prominent; gonocoxite with basal dorsomesal lobe, no apicodorsal lobe; *†basomesal area of dorsal surface with 1 or more stout or flattened setae, *lateral setae mostly short; gonostylus rather short, *proximal part broad; *2 gonostylar claws, *apex of proximal claw bluntly pointed; claspette present, with slender terminal filament; aedeagus simple. LARVAE – *Seta 1-C spiniform; *seta 6-C inserted anterior to seta 7-C; *seta 6-T branched; *seta 6-II single; *seta 3-VII, inserted at same level or posterior to seta 1-VII; *seta 12-VII branched; *seta 1-X not inserted on saddle. PUPAE – *Seta 5-II longer than seta 3-II; *seta 6-III single; *seta 2-V inserted anterior to seta 3-V; *seta 2-VI inserted lateral to seta 1-VI; *seta 1-Pa 0.40−0.60 length of paddle. See Aedini.
Belkin (1962) stated that “Levua is undoubtedly an ancient derivative of Ochlerotatus”. Stone & Bohart (1944) noted that Levua closely resembles Geoskusea. In the comprehensive phylogenetic study of tribe Aedini conducted by Reinert et al. (2009), Levua and Rhinoskusea were recovered as sister taxa in a clade that comprised Sallumia + (Geoskusea + (Levua + Rhinoskusea)). Levua was recovered as sister to Rhinoskusea + Geoskusea in the phylogenetic analyses of Huang et al. (1910) based solely on adult morphology. In the phylogeny of Wilkerson et al. (2015), Levua formed a polytomy along with Geoskusea, Rhinoskusea and Sallumia, and this group was sister to Cancraedes.
The immature stages of Levua geoskusea inhabit “crab holes” made by mud lobsters and mangrove crabs and are sometimes found in discarded household containers. Nothing is known about the bionomics of the adults, but females apparently do no attack humans.
Levua geoskusea is not known or suspected to be of medical or economic importance to humans.
Fiji Islands.
Stone & Bohart, 1944 (as subgenus of Aedes; taxonomy); Lee et al., 1984 (as subgenus of Aedes; taxonomy, biology); Reinert et al., 2004, 2006, 2008 (taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships); Reinert et al., 2009 (generic status, morphology, phylogeny); Huang et al., 2010 (as subgenus of Aedes; delineation, phylogenetic relationships); Huang et al., 2012 (as subgenus of Aedes; taxonomy, morphology); Wilkerson et al., 2015 (as subgenus of Aedes, phylogeny).
