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Name-bearing Type

• Robineau-Desvoidy
• 1827:412
• Type Species: Culex ciliatus (Fabricius)

Classification

• Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini. Genus Psorophora includes 48 species divided into three subgenera: Grabhamia (15 species), Janthinosoma (23 species) and Psorophora (10 species).

Distribution

• Species of Psorophora are associated with flood-water pools in the tropics and warmer temperate regions of North and South America.
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Phylogeny

• [Not yet available]

Characteristics

• The adults of Psorophora are rather large mosquitoes that are distinguished from other genera in the New World by the presence of both spiracular setae and postspiracular setae. Larvae have a well-developed ventral brush (seta 4-X) with a row of precratal setae attached to a complete saddle, or extending to the middle of segment X if the saddle is incomplete. The latter condition occurs in many aedine species, however the combination of an incomplete saddle and a strongly swollen siphon will distinguish Psorophora. See Aedini.

Bionomics

• Psorophora are called flood-water mosquitoes because females lay their eggs on damp or dry mud and debris in fields and wooded plains where they may withstand long periods (months or years) of desiccation and hatch when the habitat is inundated by rain or flood waters. Larvae of subgenus Psorophora are predacious. The females of many species avidly bite humans.

Medical

• Several species of Psorophora are vectors of arboviruses. Ilheus virus is transmitted by Ps. ferox and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus by Ps. ferox and Ps. confinnis.

Important References

Lane, 1953 (Neotropical Region) Forattini, 1965a (Neotropical Region) Cova-García et al., 1966 (Venezuela) Belkin et al., 1970 (Jamaica)

Darsie & Ward, 1981 (keys, North America) Clark-Gil & Darsie, 1983 (Guatemala) Darsie, 1985 (keys, Argentina) Reinert et al., 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 (phylogeny)

Included Taxa

Subgenus GRABHAMIA Theobald, 1903 cingulata (Fabricius, 1805) columbiae (Dyar & Knab, 1906) confinnis (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891) dimidiata Cerqueira, 1943 discolor (Coquillett, 1903) infinis (Dyar & Knab, 1906) insularia (Dyar & Knab, 1906) jamaicensis Theobald, 1901 leucocnemis Martini, 1931 paulli Paterson & Shannon, 1927 pruinosa Martini, 1935 pygmaea (Theobald, 1903) santamarinai Broche, 2000 signipennis (Coquillett, 1904) varinervis Edwards, 1922

Subgenus JANTHINOSOMA Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891 albigenu (Peryassú, 1908) albipes (Theobald, 1907) amazonica Cerqueira, 1960 champerico (Dyar & Knab, 1906) circumflava Cerqueira, 1943 cyanescens (Coquillett, 1902) discrucians (Walker, 1856) ferox (von Humboldt, 1819) fiebrigi Edwards, 1922 forceps Cerqueira, 1939 horrida (Dyar & Knab, 1908) johnstonii (Grabham, 1905) lanei Shannon & Cerqueira, 1943 longipalpus Randolph & O'Neill, 1944 lutzii (Theobald, 1901) mathesoni Belkin & Heinemann, 1975 melanota Cerqueira, 1943 mexicana (Bellardi, 1859) pilosa Duret, 1971 pseudoalbipes Duret, 1971 pseudomelanota Barata & Cotrim, 1971 totonaci Lassmann, 1951 varipes (Coquillett, 1904)

Subgenus PSOROPHORA Robineau-Desvoidy, 1827 ciliata (Fabricius, 1794) cilipes (Fabricius, 1805) holmbergii Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891 howardii Coquillett, 1901 lineata (von Humboldt, 1819) ochripes (Macquart, 1850) pallescens Edwards, 1922 pilipes (Macquart, 1834) saeva Kyar & Knab, 1906 stonei Vargas, 1956   Nomina dubia goeldii (Giles, 1904) marmorata (Philippi, 1865) perterrens (Walker,1856)

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.