Culicidae Classification

Subgenus Uranotaenia Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891

Type species:

Uranotaenia pulcherrima Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891.

Classification:

Subfamily Culicinae, genus Uranotaenia. Subgenus Uranotaenia includes 123 species. Subgenus abbreviation – Ura.

Characteristics:

ADULTS – Some species with lines or patches of silver, gold or blue metallic scales; head usually without erect scales, when present usually few restricted to occiput, rarely few on vertex, frontal tuft present; posterior mesanepisternum (prealar area) separated from mesokatepisternum by a suture (mesanapleural suture); wing of some species with pale-scaled areas, alula without scales; females of some species with anterior unguis of all legs much broader than posterior unguis. MALE GENITALIA – Gonocoxite with weakly developed basal mesa1 lobe, occasionally absent; gonostylus very short and stout, usually with dorsal preapical margin distended; lateral sclerites of aedeagus distinctly connected only dorsally. LARVAE – Seta 5-C and seta 6-C very stout and normally spinulate, always inserted far back on head, seta 6 inserted at level or posterior to base of antenna and seta 5 inserted near mid-length of head; grid of segment X usually distinctly joined mid-ventrally to saddle. PUPAE – Trumpets normally set close together, nearer to median keel than to mesothoracic wing, usually with distinct tracheoid area on basal 0.25 or more. 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 Uranotaenia and Pseudoficalbia.

Bionomics and disease relations:

Species of subgenus Uranotaenia are found mainly in ground-water habitats, including springs, stream margins, swamps, temporary pools with vegetation, rock holes and crab holes. Some species have been found in tree holes, plant axils and artificial containers. Females of some species are known to feed on frogs, birds and mammals, but are normally not attracted to humans. Females of Ur. sapphirina specialise in feeding on the blood of earthworms and leeches (Reeves et al., 2018).

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

Distribution:

Species of subgenus Uranotaenia occur principally in tropical areas and to some extent subtropical areas, of the Afrotropical, Australasian, Neotropical and Oriental Regions. Uranotaenia sapphirina is primarily a Nearctic species, extending northward from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico through the United States into Canada.

Principal references:

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:

Search form

You are here

Uranotaenia Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891