POC: Dr. Pollie Rueda, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center, MRC-534, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland MD 20746-2863 USA; E-mail: ruedapol@si.edu; Phone: 301-238-1075; FAX: 301-238-3168

Requirements:
Specimens submitted for identification:
1. Should be properly preserved and mounted (see guidelines).
2. Should be part of an established research, surveillance or medical/veterinary diagnostics program.
3. Should represent material needed as research, surveillance or diagnostics vouchers (species identification verification) and/or
problematic specimens not yielding to routine identification with commonly available keys.
4. Should be accompanied by DD Form 1222. Because of limited resources, identifications of large numbers of specimens are not possible except by prior arrangement. The level of identification will be dependent on the expertise available at WRBU and on willing participants in the museum and academic communities.
Collaborations with other institutions and individuals also available by prior arrangement

Internet Image Service Instructions:
1. We will try to identify your mosquito specimens using images/pictures you send us through email. For each mosquito specimen, send us the images/pictures under different views/aspects (See below). Select the best specimens you have (less damaged parts, intact scales, etc.). When diagnostic characters in your images are not visible to positively ID your specimens, we will ask you take some more shots of your specimens. If they are impossible to ID using images, we will ask you to send us the specimens for further analysis.
2. This service of using images to ID specimens is offered only to those Preventive Medicine units and other military units that need immediate ID results, particularly those deployed.
3. You must have a stereomicroscope with at least 70X magnification and a digital camera (attached to your scope) to take images/pictures of your specimens. Save the images in JPEG file format and email to us.
4. Contact us (ruedapol@si.edu; Tel. 301-238-1075; Fax 301-238-3168) prior to sending the images. Provide the following specimen collection data: place and date of collection, habitat, and collector.

For individual mosquito specimen, provide us with the following images/pictures:
A. Head
Whole head - frontal/dorsal (upper) view
Vertex of head - dorsal view
Clypeus - frontal view
Palpus - lateral (side) view of the whole palpus
B. Thorax
Scutum - dorsal view
Scutum - lateral view
Scutellar lobes - dorsal view
C. Wing - dorsal view of the whole wing
Base of wing - close-up dorsal view
D. Legs
Hind leg - lateral view of whole hind leg
Hindtarsus - lateral view
Middle leg - lateral view of the whole mid leg
Midtarsus - lateral view
Front leg - lateral view of the whole foreleg
Foretarsus - lateral view
E. Abdomen - Dorsal view of the whole abdomen
Abdomen - Ventral (lower) view of the whole abdomen

POC: Dr. Pollie Rueda, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Museum Support Center, MRC-534, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20746-2863 USA; E-mail: ruedapol@si.edu; Phone: 301-238-1075; FAX: 301-238-3168