Subgenus Fredwardsius Reinert, 2000
Aedes vittatus (Bigot, 1861), original combination: Culex vittatus.
Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini, genus Aedes. Subgenus Fredwardsius is monobasic. Subgenus abbreviation – Fre.
The following unique and unusual features distinguish subgenus Fredwardsius from all other generic-level taxa of tribe Aedini; characters that define the Fredwardsius clade in the phylogenetic analysis of Reinert et al. (2009) are indicated with an asterisk (*). ADULTS – *Eyes narrowly to moderately separated above antennal pedicels; *decumbent scales of vertex both broad and narrow; antennal pedicel with separate *mesal and *lateral patches of broad silvery scales; clypeus of females with patch of pale scales on either side; maxillary palpus of females with *some pale scales, palpomeres 1–3 short, 4 long, 5 small and bud-like; maxillary palpus of males longer than proboscis by about length of palpomere 5, palpomeres 2–5 each with broad basal pale band, palpomere 3 with few short apical setae, palpomeres 4 and 5 narrow and upturned, palpomere 4 with nearly complete ventrolateral row of setae, palpomere 5 with few ventral and apical setae; *scutum and *antepronotum with both broad and narrow scales; *upper and lower areas of prealar area with scales; 2–6 lower mesepimeral setae; *metameron usually with scales; *remigium of wing without dorsal setae; *postprocoxal scales present; *femora with complete subapical pale bands; *hindtarsomere 2 with basal pale scales. FEMALE GENITALIA – Sternum VIII without scales, heavily pigmented, posterior margin with deep, narrow, median emargination; postgenital lobe narrow, *ventral width of distal 0.2 ≤ 0.65 cercus width at midlength; *ventral surface of postgenital lobe with setae inserted mesally (unique); upper vaginal sclerite well developed, with jagged posterior margin. MALE GENITALIA – Posterior margin of tergum VIII strongly convex, with numerous long stout setae; *tergum IX lobes small and relatively narrow; sternum IX without setae and scales; gonocoxite relatively narrow, ventral surface with small apicomesal lobe bearing several moderately long setae; distal half of gonostylus greatly expanded; gonostylar claw long, narrow, strongly curved and borne on ventral surface (*near midlength of gonostylus) of expanded area, *≥ 0.39 length of gonostylus; basal mesal lobe oblong, mostly detached from mesal surface of gonocoxite, with only very short setae. LARVAE – Seta 4-C minute, inserted anteromesad of seta 5-C and near and slightly posteromesad of seta 6-C; setae 5,6-C single, moderately long; seta 5-C well removed posterior to setae 4,6-C; seta 7-C moderately long, *branched, inserted anterolateral to seta 5-C and posterolateral to seta 6-C; seta 8-P relatively long, stout, aciculate, with 2 or 3 branches; *seta 3-VII inserted at same level or slightly posterior to seta 1-VII; seta 4-VII long, single, noticeably longer than setae 1,3-VII; seta 1-VIII short, branched, *≤ 0.38 length of seta 2-VIII; seta 2-VIII long, single; seta 5-I–VI short, 5-II–V normally single; seta 1-X short, single, inserted on posteroventral margin of saddle; ventral brush (seta 4-X) usually composed of 8 cratal and 3–5 precratal setae. PUPAE – *Trumpet without tracheoid area; *seta 6-I as long or shorter than seta 7-I; seta 1-II short, with multiple fine branches; *seta 3-II branched, *longer than seta 6-II; seta 4-III,IV short, single; seta 4-VIII noticeably longer than seta 9-VIII; *seta 5-II longer than seta 3-II; *seta 6-II as long or shorter than seta 7-II; *seta 5-V shorter than tergum VI; seta 6-IV–VI relatively long, inserted at about same level or slightly dorsoposterior to seta 9; paddle broad, apical margin slightly rounded, outer margin with very few minute spicules, without fringe of long hair-like spicules, *midrib weak, terminating well before apex of paddle. See genus Aedes.
The closest relatives of subgenus Fredwardsius are uncertain. In the morphological phylogeny of Reinert et al. (2009), the subgenus is the basal branch of a large clade that is sister to subgenera Skusea + (Indusius + Cancraedes), and is followed by a pectinate series of five lineages: subgenera Isoaedes, Borichinda, Diceromyia + Ayurakitia, Dendroskusea, and Scutomyia + (Catatassomyia + Bothaella) in a sister relationship to a group of generic-level taxa. Fredwardsius was recovered as the sister of subgenera Indusius + Skusea in the phylogenetic analyses of Wilkerson et al. (2015). The single species of subgenus Fredwardsius was variously classified as a species of subgenera Stegomyia, Scutomyia and Aedimorphus, but it bears a number of unique and unusual features that are not shared with members of these groups. Aedes vittatus was recovered as sister to a clade comprised of subgenera Diceromyia + (Petermattinglyius + (Cornetius + Lorrainea)) in the maximum likelihood phylogeny of Soghigian et al. (2017) based on seven molecular markers.
The immature stages of Ae. vittatus usually inhabit rock pools and rock holes, but they have been found in tree holes, bamboo pots, hoof prints, wells and artificial containers. Females are known to feed on humans. For additional bionomical information, see Mattingly (1965), Service (1970), Huang (1977) and Becker et al. (2010).
Aedes vittatus is a potential vector species. It has been shown to transmit yellow fever virus from monkey to monkey in the laboratory (Philip, 1929) and has been suspected as a vector in the Nuba Mountain epidemic of yellow fever in Sudan (Lewis, 1943) (also see Clements, 2012).
The single species of subgenus Fredwardsius is recorded from the following countries of the Afrotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions: Angola, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Ghana, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, People's Republic of China, Portugal, Republic of Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Reinert, 2000 (taxonomy); Reinert et al., 2004, 2009 (as genus, morphology, phylogeny); Becker et al., 2010 (taxonomy); Rattanarithikul et al., 2010 (as genus, Thailand, keys, bionomics); Wilkerson et al., 2015 (phylogeny, classification); Soghigian et al., 2017 (phylogenetic relationships).
