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Name-bearing Type

• Van Duc Hong and Harbach
• 2007:103
• Type Species: Topomyia decorabilis (Leicester)

Classification

• Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Sabethini. Kimia includes five currently known species.

Distribution

• Species of Kimia occur in eastern areas of the Oriental Region.
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Phylogeny

• Kimia formed a sister-group relationship with Trichoprosopon + Tripteroides in the cladistic analysis of Harbach et al. (2007a) based on the absence of larval seta 8-M, which was not contradicted. A number of morphological characters not included in the analysis provide additional evidence for a relationship with Trichoprosopon. This relationship sheds doubt on the monophyly of the New World Sabethini. The phylogenetic relationships of the species of Kimia are unknown, but based on similarities of the male genitalia, Km. decorabilis and Km. nemorosa appear to be most closely related to Km. imitata and Km. suchariti, respectively.

Characteristics

• Kimia are relatively small, attractive mosquitoes with a median longitudinal stripe of broad silver scales on the scutum. This character, along with the absence of setae or hair-like scales on the upper calypter, distinguishes the adults from all other Old World genera except Malaya and Topomyia. Despite the overall similarity, the unmodified proboscis of Kimia could never be confused with the "hairy", bent and apically swollen proboscis of Malaya. Females of Kimia are distinguished from those of Topomyia by the absence of setae and scales on sternum IX; males are distinguished by having the inner foreungues distinctly larger than the outer one. Males also differ in several features of their genitalia. The larvae of Kimia are distinguished from all other genera in the Oriental Region based on the following characters: presence of a single pair of seta 4-X (distinction from non-sabethine genera); presence of an oval occipital foramen and absence of seta 8-M (distinctions from Malaya and Topomyia); insertion of seta 13-T on a plate with setae 9-12-T and absence of a pecten (distinctions from Malaya and Tripteroides). Whereas punctures are present on two or three of segments III-V in pupae of Topomyia and Tripteroides, they are entirely absent in Kimia. Seta 6-VII is strongly developed and inserted anterior to seta 9-VII in pupae of Kimia and Malaya. This seta, although not strongly developed, is also inserted anterior to seta 9-VII in subgenera Polylepidomyia, Rachionotomyia, Rachisoura and Tripteroides of genus Tripteroides. The long seta 5-III and short seta 5-VI distinguish the pupae of Kimia from those of Topomyia and Tripteroides in which seta 5-III is short and seta 5-VI is long. Whereas seta 14-III-VII is present in Tripteroides, it is absent in Kimia, Malaya and Topomyia. The absence of pupal seta 14-VIII in Kimia is a unique feature within Sabethini; in fact this seta is present in all other Culicidae except for some species of Toxorhynchites. See Sabethini.

Bionomics

• Little bionomical information is available for species of Kimia. Adult and pupal stages have never been collected in the wild and are known only from laboratory rearings of larvae found in bamboo stumps and erect bamboo internodes bearing small holes presumably made by beetles. It is uncertain whether larvae are facultative or obligatory predators. The maxillae appear to be modified for grasping. Before reaching the pupal and adult stages, the holotype of Km. suchariti was seen to prey on larvae of Armigeres and Tripteroides. Larvae of Stegomyia aegypti were used as a source of food while rearing larvae of Km. decorabilis that were collected in northern Vietnam (Harbach et al., 2007).

Medical

• Species of Kimia are of no known medical or economic importance to humans.

Important References

Harbach et al., 2007

Included Taxa

decorabilis (Leicester, 1908) imitata (Baisas, 1946) miyagii (Toma & Mogi, 2003) nemorosa (Gong, 1996) suchariti (Miyagi & Toma, 1989)

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.