Subgenus Reinertia Somboon, Namgay & Harbach, 2021
Aedes (Finlaya) suffusus Edwards, 1922.
Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini, genus Aedes. Subgenus Reinertia is monobasic. Subgenus abbreviation – Rei.
ADULTS ‒ Small blackish brown mosquitoes; vertex of head with dark upright forked scales covering most of dorsal surface, recumbent scales on dorsal midline largely narrow and white; proboscis and maxillary palpus dark-scaled; scutum mostly covered with narrow pale falcate scales; postspiracular area with pale scales and setae; anterior surfaces of fore- and midfemora mostly dark-scaled with pale scaling posteroventrally, approximately proximal 0.5 of hindfemur pale-scaled with narrow anteroventral line of pale scales connected to apical pale patch on anterior surface, tibiae and tarsi of all legs dark-scaled; abdominal terga III–V and all sterna with conspicuous basal pale bands. FEMALE GENITALIA – Segment VIII broad, not completely retracted into segment VII, cercus moderately long, somewhat cylindrical in dorsal view; tergum IX short, bilobed, lobes widely separated by narrow basal strip. MALE GENITALIA ‒ Gonocoxite without dorsomesal apical and dorsomesal basal lobes, ventromesal margin without group of prominent scales; mesal membrane with a setose basomesal sclerite (homologous with dorsomesal basal lobe). LARVAE ‒ Antenna very long, narrow and bowed; seta 1-A very long and branched; seta 4-C inserted mesad and slightly posterior to seta 6-C; seta 5-C inserted slightly posterior to 7-C; seta 6-C inserted slightly anterior to 7-C; seta 12-C present; seta 13-C branched, seta 14-C single; comb scales spine-like, in a single irregular row; pecten spines evenly spaced; seta 1-S inserted distal to pecten; ventral brush (seta 4-X) with precratal setae. PUPAE ‒ Seta 11-CT well developed, single; seta 6-VII inserted posterior to level of seta 9-VII; paddle long, essentially symmetrical. See Aedes.
The larva of Aedes suffusus closely resembles larvae of subgenus Downsiomyia, and the adults and larva share anatomical features with those of species of the Palearctic subgenus Dahliana. However, in phylogenetic analyses of the mitochondrial COI gene (Somboon et al., 2021), Reinertia was not associated with Dahliana or Downsiomyia but was recovered as the weakly supported sister of subgenus Protomacleaya.
The immature stages of Ae. suffusus have been found in tree holes at high altitudes in mountain forest (Edwards, 1922; Barraud, 1934; Darsie et al., 1996; Somboon et al., 2021). Darsie et al. (1996) found females resting on walls inside a guest house in northwestern Nepal, and those authors, as well as Bhat (1975) working in West Bengal State of India, observed that females are attracted to humans.
Whether the single species of subgenus Reinertia may play a role in the transmission of pathogens is unknown.
Aedes suffusus has been found in the Himalaya Mountains of Bhutan, India and Nepal. It likely to be found in high-altitude forested areas of neibhbouring Pakistan and the Tibetan Plateau.
Barraud, 1934 (as species of subgenus Finlaya, key for adults, description, bionomics, distribution); Knight & Marks 1952 (as species of subgenus Finlaya, key, classification, morphology, taxonomy, bionomics); Darsie et al., 1996 (as species of subgenus Finlaya, Nepal, collection records, bionomics); Somboon et al., 2021 (new subgenus, Bhutan, taxonomy, description of subgenus and type species, bionomics, distribution, phylogenetic relationships).
suffusus Edwards, 1922
