Genus Kimia Vu Duc Huong & Harbach, 2007

Type species: 

Kimia decorabilis (Leicester, 1908), original combination: Topomyia decorabilis.

Classification: 

Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Sabethini. Kimia includes five currently known species. Genus abbreviation – Km.

Characteristics: 

Kimia are relatively small, attractive mosquitoes with a median longitudinal stripe of broad silver scales on the scutum. This character, along with the absence of setae or hair-like scales on the upper calypter, distinguishes the adults from all other Old World genera except Malaya and Topomyia. Despite the overall similarity, the unmodified proboscis of Kimia could never be confused with the setose, bent and apically swollen proboscis of Malaya. Females of Kimia are distinguished from those of Topomyia by the absence of setae and scales on sternum IX; males are distinguished by having the inner foreungues distinctly larger than the outer one. Males also differ in several features of their genitalia. The larvae of Kimia are distinguished from all other genera in the Oriental Region based on the following characters: presence of a single pair of seta 4-X (distinction from non-sabethine genera); presence of an oval occipital foramen and absence of seta 8-M (distinctions from Malaya and Topomyia); insertion of seta 13-T on a plate with setae 912-T and absence of a pecten (distinctions from Malaya and Tripteroides). Whereas punctures are present on two or three of abdominal segments III–V in pupae of Topomyia and Tripteroides, they are entirely absent in Kimia. Seta 6-VII is strongly developed and inserted anterior to seta 9-VII in pupae of Kimia and Malaya. This seta, although not strongly developed, is also inserted anterior to seta 9-VII in subgenera Polylepidomyia, Rachionotomyia, Rachisoura and Tripteroides of Tripteroides. The long seta 5-III and short seta 5-VI distinguish the pupae of Kimia from those of Topomyia and Tripteroides in which seta 5-III is short and seta 5-VI is long. Whereas seta 14-III–VII is present in Tripteroides, it is absent in Kimia, Malaya and Topomyia. The absence of pupal seta 14-VIII in Kimia is a unique feature within Sabethini; in fact this seta is present in all other Culicidae except for some species of Toxorhynchites. See Sabethini.

Phylogenetic relationships: 

Kimia formed a sister-group relationship with Trichoprosopon + Tripteroides in the cladistic analysis of Harbach et al. (2007) based on the absence of larval seta 8-M, which was not contradicted. A number of morphological characters not included in the analysis provide additional evidence for a relationship with the New World Trichoprosopon. This relationship sheds doubt on the monophyly of the New World Sabethini. The phylogenetic relationships of the species of Kimia are unknown, but based on similarities of the male genitalia, Km. decorabilis and Km. nemorosa appear to be most closely related to Km. imitata and Km. suchariti, respectively. Harbach et al. (2007) stated that the insertion of seta 13-T on a common plate with setae 9–12-T is a unique feature of Kimia and Trichoprosopon; however, Campos & Zavortink (2010), without mention, illustrated this condition in the larva of Isostomyia paranensis.

Bionomics and disease relations: 

Little bionomical information is available for species of Kimia. Adult and pupal stages have never been collected in the wild and are known only from laboratory rearings of larvae found in bamboo stumps and erect bamboo internodes bearing small holes presumably made by beetles. It is uncertain whether larvae are facultative or obligatory predators. The maxillae appear to be modified for grasping. Before reaching the pupal and adult stages, the holotype of Km. suchariti was seen to prey on larvae of Armigeres and Tripteroides. Larvae of Stegomyia aegypti were used as a source of food while rearing larvae of Km. decorabilis that were collected in northern Vietnam (Harbach et al., 2007).

Species of Kimia are of no known medical or economic importance to humans.

Distribution: 

Species of Kimia occur in eastern areas of the Oriental Region.

Principal references: 

Harbach et al., 2007 (genus status, systematics, bionomics, distribution).

Species: 

decorabilis (Leicester, 1908)
imitata (Baisas, 1946)
miyagii (Toma & Mogi, 2003)
nemorosa (Gong, 1996)
suchariti (Miyagi & Toma, 1989)

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith