Genus Indusius Edwards, 1934
Indusius pulverulentus (Edwards, 1922), original combination: Aedes pulverulentus.
Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini. Indusius is monobasic. Genus abbreviation – In.
Indusius is principally distinguished by the distinctive form of the maxillary palpi, foretarsi and genitalia of males. Characters that diagnose Indusius in the phylogeny of Aedini hypothesised by Reinert et al. (2009) are indicated by an asterisk (*).
ADULTS – Vertex with broad decumbent scales; few erect forked scales confined to occiput; *compound eyes widely separated; interocular space with broad scales and *6 or more well-developed setae; antennal pedicel with a few scales and setae mesally; *maxillary palpus with pale scales, maxillary palpus of males with 4 palpomeres, palpomere 3 about half length of palpomere 4, palpomere 4 long, swollen and setose; proboscis of males shorter than forefemur, swollen and somewhat compressed distally, with numerous long setae on lateral and ventral areas; *scutum with large patch of pale scales on anterior 0.7, *scutal fossa with contrasting pale scales in large patch; few anterior acrostichal setae, no posterior acrostichal setae; few anterior dorsocentral and numerous posterior dorsocentral setae; paratergite bare; *scutellum with broad and narrow scales on midlobe; scales present on antepronotum, postpronotum, upper proepisternum, subspiracular area, postspiracular area, *upper prealar area and mesepimeron; *lower anterior mesepimeral setae absent; femora short, somewhat thickened; tibiae with numerous stout erect setae, very noticeable on hindtibia; *hindtarsomere 1 with apical pale scales, hindtarsomere 2 with *basal and *apical pale scales; fore- and midungues of females equal, each with 1 tooth, hindungues equal, simple, fore- and midungues of males large, foreungues equal and simple, larger midunguis with 1 tooth, smaller midunguis simple; alula of wing with long narrow scales on margin, similar to setae on upper calypter; *remigium without setae; abdominal terga of males with short setae on lateral and posterior margins. FEMALE GENITALIA – Segment VIII completely retracted into segment VII; tergum VIII without scales; sternum VIII with a deep median posterior indentation and *median longitudinal non-sclerotised area, scales absent or few present, setae l–3-S all proximad; tergum IX comprised of 2 long sclerites, each expanded caudally, with *setae on distal and much of median areas; insula tongue-like with few small tuberculi; lower vaginal sclerite absent; upper vaginal sclerite well developed; postgenital lobe with median caudal indentation; cerci without scales; 3 spermathecal capsules, one large, 2 smaller. MALE GENITALIA – Tergum IX with convex posterior margin, several setae on each side of midline; sternum IX narrow, without setae; gonocoxite somewhat conical, *scales absent, *lateral surface with mostly short setae, dorsomesal surface with numerous long setae between base and apex; gonostylus attached subapically, exceptionally short, *narrow proximally, bulbous distally with file-like ridges and stout spicules; gonostylar claw absent; phallosome with moderately long and broad parameral apodeme with a long curved projection on its caudomesal margin; proctiger short, *sternal arm present, paraproct divided distally into 2 narrow arms; cercus membranous, without setae. LARVAE – Unknown. PUPAE – Unknown. See Aedini.
Based on the cladistic analysis of morphological data by Reinert et al. (2009), Indusius appears to be related to Skusea and Cancraedes. Skusea and Indusius were recovered in a paraphyletic relationship with respect to Cancraedes: Skusea + (Indusius + Cancraedes). Indusius was sister to Skusea and this pair was sister to Fredwardsius in the phylogenetic analysis of Wilkerson et al. (2015).
Females are known to feed on cattle, but other than this nothing is known about the bionomics of Indusius.
The only known species of Indusius is unlikely to be of medical and economic importance to humans.
Pakistan.
Edwards, 1934 (in Barraud, 1934; as subgenus of Aedes, taxonomy); Reinert, 1976 (taxonomy, as subgenus of Aedes); Reinert, 2000 (as subgenus of Aedes, female genitalia); Reinert et al., 2004, 2009 (generic status, morphology, phylogeny); Wilkerson et al., 2015 (as subgenus of Aedes, phylogeny).
