Culicidae Classification

Subgenus Pseudoficalbia Theobald, 1912

Type species:

Uranotaenia pandani (Theobald, 1912), original combination: Pseudoficalbia pandani.

Classification:

Subfamily Culicinae, genus Uranotaenia. Subgenus Pseudoficalbia includes 153 species. Subgenus abbreviation – Pfc.

Characteristics:

ADULTS – Without lines or patches of metallic scales; head with numerous erect scales covering most of vertex, frontal tuft absent; posterior mesanepisternum (prealar area) not separated from mesokatepisternum by a suture (mesanapleural suture); wing without pale-scaled areas, alula with or without few broad dorso-marginal scales; anterior unguis of legs of females not noticeably broader than posterior unguis. MALE GENITALIA – Gonocoxite with well-developed basal mesa1 lobe, usually produced dorso-apically into a very distinct finger-like lobe; gonostylus moderately long, usually slender and tapered to narrow apex, sometimes rather stout and distended on dorsal preapical margin; lateral sclerites of aedeagus normally distinctly connected dorsally and ventrally. LARVAE – Seta 5-C (normally) and seta 6-C slender, usually single and simple or weakly branched, usually inserted far forward on anterior third of head, rarely inserted near mid-length; grid of ventral brush (seta 4-X) normally not joined mid-ventrally to saddle. PUPAE – Trumpets normally set far apart, nearer to mesothoracic wing than to median keel, usually with indistinct tracheoid area at base anteriorly. See genus Uranotaenia.

Phylogenetic relationships:

Phylogenetic relationships within the subgenus have not been investigated. However, da Cunha Ramos (1993) employed UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) methodology to construct phenetic trees for Afrotropical species of subgenera Pseudoficalbia and Uranotaenia.

Bionomics and disease relations:

The immature stages of species of Pseudoficalbia are generally found in phytotelm habitats, but some species have been found in ground pools, swamps and artificial containers. Very little is known about the feeding habits of females.

Species of subgenus Pseudoficalbia are not of medical or economic importance.

Distribution:

Species of Pseudoficalbia occur principally in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, with the exception of some islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Ur. anhydor in the southwestern United State and Mexico, several species with a northward extension from the Oriental Region into the Palaearctic Region, and Ur. unguiculata in the Mediterranean Subregion and adjacent areas of the European and Siberia Subregions of the Palaearctic.

Principal references:

Peyton, 1977 (Southeast Asia, subgenus, sections and species descriptions, keys, distributions, bionomics); Tanaka et al., 1979 (Japan, species descriptions, keys, distributions); Lee et al., 1989 (Australasian Region, subgenus distinction, species keys, distributions, bionomics); Service, 1990 (Afrotropical Region, morphology, keys, bionomics, distributions); da Cunha Ramos, 1993 (Afrotropical Region, subgenus, sections and species descriptions and keys, distributions, bionomics); da Cunha Ramos & Brunhes, 2004 (Madagascar, subgenus, sections and species descriptions and keys, distributions, bionomics); Rattanarithikul et al., 2006 (Thailand, keys, bionomics).

Species:

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Pseudoficalbia Theobald, 1912