Aedes unilineatus (Theobald, 1906), original combination: Quasistegomyia unilineata.
Subfamily Culicinae, genus Aedes, subgenus Stegomyia. The Unilineatus Group includes only two species.
Species of the Unilineatus Group are distinguished from other species and groups of subgenus Stegomyia by the following combination of characters (adapted mainly from Huang, 2004). ADULTS ‒ Maxillary palpus with pale scaling; scutum with a long median longitudinal pale stripe of narrow scales extending from anterior promontory to near level of wing attachment; scutal fossa without patch of pale scales, dorsocentral setae present; scutellum with broad pale scales on all lobes; paratergite with broad pale scales; subspiracular, hypostigmal and postspiracular areas with broad pale scales; metameron with broad pale scales; all femora with pale knee spot, anterior surface of midfemur with large pale spot; anterior surface of all tibiae dark-scaled, without line of pale scales; hindtarsomeres 1‒4 with basal pale bands, hindtarsomere 5 entirely pale-scaled; fore- and midungues of females equal and toothed, fore- and midungues of males unequal and toothed. MALE GENITALIA ‒ Group characters not evident; tergum IX evenly rounded, ninth tergal lobes widely separated, strongly sclerotised but small and rather inconspicuous, with few setae. LARVAE and PUPAE ‒ Group characters unknown. See subgenus Stegomyia.
Unknown and will remain so until the species and species groups of subgenus Stegomyia are better known and studied using objective methods of phylogenetic analysis.
Larvae of the two species of the Unilineatus Group have been found in tree holes (Barraud, 1934; Hopkins, 1952; Gutsevich et al., 1974). Females of Ae. unilineatus are known to bite humans (Huang, 2004).
Species of the Unilineatus Group are not known to be of medical importance to humans.
The Unilineatus Group has a disjunctive distribution. Aedes cretinus is known to occur in the eastern Mediterranean area of the Palaearctic Region, with recorded occurrence in Crete, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey and the Ukraine. The distribution of Ae. unilineatus extends from the Afrotropical Region across the Arabian Peninsula to India, with recorded occurrence in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan and Zambia.
Huang, 2004 (diagnosis based on adults, identification key, illustrations of Ae. unilineatus); Becker et al., 2010 (Ae. cretinus, description of adults and larva, bionomics, distribution).
cretinus Edwards, 1921
unilineatus (Theobald, 1906)