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Name-bearing Type

• Theobald
• 1904a:17
• Type Species: Hodgesia sanguinae

Classification

• Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Hodgesiini. Hodgesia, with 11 species, is the only hodgesia of tribe Hodgesiini.

Distribution

• Species of Hodgesia occur in the Old World tropics: four are found in Africa, two in the Oriental Region, three in the Australasian Region and two that occur in both the Oriental and Australasian Regions.
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Phylogeny

• Hodgesia appears to be most closely related to Culiseta, Ficalbia and Mimomyia. Hodgesia and Ficalbia were recovered as sister taxa in the cladistic analysis of Harbach & Kitching (1998) based on a single synapomorphy, i.e. seta 1-S inserted at the base of the siphon, a characteristic that also occurs in genus Culiseta. Belkin (1962) noted that the adults also bear some similarity with Uranotaenia and hypothesised that Hodgesia may have originated through hybridization between ancient members of tribes Ficalbiini and Uranotaeniini. Phylogenetic relationships within genus Hodgesia have not been investigated.

Characteristics

• Hodgesia are very small mosquitoes that are unique in having the dorsal scales on the distal half of the wing elongate and forked at the tip. Larvae are similar to Culiseta and Ficalbia in having seta 1-S attached near the base of the siphon. They are distinguished from Culiseta in having seta 5-VIII inserted near the dorsal margin of segment X, and differ from Ficalbia in having the cardo fused with the maxillary palpus and the hypostomal suture complete to the posterior tentorial pit. See Hodgesiini.

Bionomics

• Very little is known about the bionomics of Hodgesia. Larvae are usually found in swamps and marshes in water with very dense vegetation, and often in association with species of Mimomyia. The feeding habits of most species are unknown. Hodgesia sanguinae of Africa has been reported to attack humans, and Ho. solomonis is a vicious biter in the vicinity of its larval habitats in the Solomon Islands. Females are so small that they may be mistaken for biting midges (family Ceratopogonidae), hence it is likely that other species that may feed on humans have not been recognised.

Medical

• A few species of Hodgesia bite humans, but none are medically important.

Important References

Barraud, 1934 (southern Asia) Edwards, 1941 (adults, Afrotropical Region) Hopkins, 1952 (larvae, Afrotropical Region) Thurman, 1959 (Thailand)

Belkin, 1962 (taxonomy, South Pacific) Lee et al., 1988b (Australasian Region) Service, 1990 (Afrotropical Region) Lu Baolin et al., 1997a (China)

Included Taxa

bailyi Barraud, 1929 cairnsensis Taylor, 1919 cyptopus Theobald, 1909 lampangensis Thurman, 1959 malayi Leicester, 1908 nigeriae Edwards, 1930

psectropus Edwards, 1930 quasisanguinae Leicester, 1908 sanguinae Theobald, 1904 solomonis Belkin, 1962 spoliata Edwards, 1923

The materials presented in the Classification, Distribution, Phylogeny, Characteristics, Medical, and Important References sections, and links to subgenera, are reproduced with permission of Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory, moderated by Ralph Harbach on behalf of the contributors who retain copyright. For additional information on reuse parameters, please contact Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory. Images and maps, unless otherwise attributed, and links to the literature are provided by the WRBU.