Species Culex (Culex) molestus Forsskål, 1775

Museums

Regional Maps

• Culex molestus Forsskål, P. 1775. Descriptiones Animalium Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium; quæ in Itinere Orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post Mortem Auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est Materia Medica Kakirina atque Tabula Maris Rubri Geographica. Hauniæ : Mölleri 1-19, i-xxxiv, 164 pp., 1 map. [85] [placed as Nomina dubia by Harbach, 2011].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown, Rosetta, Kahira and Alexandria, Egypt.

  Secondary source:

   Harbach, R. 1 September 2011. Mosquito Taxonomic inventory Valid Species List. Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory. Http://mosquito-taxonomic-inventory.info/ [accessed on 11 October 2011].

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Pantropical, southern Nearctic and Palaearctic Regions, widespread in warmer Oceanian Region; Kassim et al. (2013) found no evidence for this species occurring north of latitude 28.17°S.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: pest, volant.

Larva: aquatic.

Extra Ecological Information

Adult readily attacks humans and birds; adults collected in animal-baited traps; serious indoor domestic pest in certain areas; isolation of Murray Valley encephalitis and Barmah Forest viruses from collections; larva found in water butts, drainage pits and foul ground water such as sewerage ponds, septic tanks and pools at rubbish tips.

 

General References

Kassim, N.F.A., Webb, C.E., Wang, Q. & Russell, R.C. 2013. Australian distribution, genetic status and seasonal abundance of the exotic mosquito Culex molestus (Forskal) (Diptera: Culicidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 52: 185–198

Lee, D.J., Hicks, M.M., Debenham, M.L., Marks, E.N., Bryan, J.H. & Russell, R.C. 1989. The Culicidae of the Australasian Region. Nomenclature, synonymy, literature, distribution, biology and relation to disease. Genus Culex. Subgenera Acallyntrum, Culex. Commonwealth Department of Health, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Monograph Series. Entomology Monograph No. 2. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 7 281 pp. [143] (literature, distribution, biology)

Russell, R.C. 1993. Mosquitoes and Mosquito-borne Disease in Southeastern Australia. A guide to the biology, relation to disease, surveillance, control and the identification of mosquitoes in southeastern Australia. New South Wales : Published privately by Department of Medical Entomology, Westmead Hospital, Westmead 195 pp. [10.148] (biology)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
20-Apr-2012		28-Aug-2013	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)