Subgenus Ankylorhynchus Lutz, 1904
Toxorhynchites purpureus (Theobald, 1901), original combination: Megarhinus purpureus.
Subfamily Culicinae, genus Toxorhynchites. Subgenus Ankylorhynchus includes four species. Subgenus abbreviation – Ank.
Species of Toxorhynchites are extremely similar in all life stages; adult characters are used to characterise and distinguish the subgenera. ADULTS ‒ Maxillary palpus of females long, about as long as proboscis, apical palpomere acute (pointed) and upturned; antenna of females moderately verticillate; forecoxa with white scales; mesokatepisternum without golden scales; laterotergite of abdominal segment I with dense covering of scales; midungues of males unequal, larger one with tooth. MALE GENITALIA ‒ Gonostylar claw short, 0.1‒0.2 length of gonostylus; aedeagus with narrow dorsal bridge; paraproct without unsclerotised transverse band. LARVAE and PUPAE ‒ Not well studied, poorly described; unknown for Tx. hexacis. See genus Toxorhynchites.
The phylogenetic relationships of Ankylorhynchus have not been investigated.
Larvae of species of subgenus Ankylorhynchus have been found in cut and bored bamboo, tree holes and artificial containers. See Steffan & Evenhuis (1981) and Collins & Blackwell (2000) for details of Toxorhynchites biology.
South America. The distribution of subgenus Ankylorhynchus is poorly known. The species have only been recorded from localities in Brazil (Tx. catharinensis, Tx. purpureus, Tx. trichopygus), Bolivia (Tx. hexacis), French Guiana (Tx. trichopygus) and Uruguay (Tx. purpureus).
Lane, 1953 (taxonomy, keys, descriptions, distributions); da Costa Lima et al., 1962 (as genus, keys, descriptions); Forattini, 1965 (adult morphology); Steffan & Evenhuis, 1981 (biology); Darsie, 1985 (Argentina, adult key includes Tx. purpureus).
catharinensis (da Costa Lima, Guitton & Ferreira, 1962)
hexacis (Martini, 1931)
purpureus (Theobald, 1901)
trichopygus (Wiedemann, 1828)
