Species Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus Say, 1823
House Mosquito
- Culex quinquefasciatus Say, T. 1823. Descriptions of dipterous insects of the United States. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 3: 9-54, 73-104 [pp. 9–32 April; pp. 33–54 May; pp. 73–96 June; pp. 97–104 July] [10].
Type data:
Neotype USNM ♂ adult (with associated larval and pupal skins and genitalia slide; original type has been lost but original type locality is: Vicinity of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, see 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. [166]), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.Subsequent designation references:
Sirivanakarn, S. & White, G.B. 1978. Neotype designation of Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 80(3): 360-372 [362]; 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. - Culex fatigans Wiedemann, C.R.W. 1828. Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten. Als Fortsetzung des Meigenschen Werkes. Erster Theil. Hamm. : Schulz xxxii 608 pp. [10] [synonymised by Dyar, H.G. & Knab, F. 1909. On the identity of Culex pipiens Linnaeus (Diptera, Culicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 11: 30–39 (34) but not universally accepted].
Type data:
Lectotype NHMW ♀ adult, East Indies (Indonesia).Subsequent designation references:
Belkin, J.N. 1968. Mosquito Studies (Diptera, Culicidae). VII. The Culicidae of New Zealand. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 3: 1-182 [68]. - Culex acer Walker, F. 1848. List of the Specimens of Dipterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part I. London : British Museum pp. 1-229. [8].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH ♀ adult, New Zealand. - Culex macleayi Skuse, F.A.A. 1889. Diptera of Australia. Part V.—The Culicidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 3: 1717-1764 [1746] [originally described as Culex Macleayi].
Type data:
Holotype ANIC(MMUS) ♀ adult, King George's Sound, WA. - Culex skusii Giles, G.M. 1900. A Handbook of the Gnats or Mosquitoes: Giving the anatomy and life history of the Culicidae. London : J. Bale, Sons & Danielsson. [292] [originally described as Culex Skusii; synonymised with fatigans by Taylor, F.H. 1914. A revision of the Culicidae in the Macleay Museum, Sydney. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 38: 747–760 (759) as 'Culex sp., Skuse' (i.e. 'Culex fatigans Wied., var. Skusi Giles 1902')].
Type data:
Syntype(s) ANIC(MMUS) ♂ ♀ adult (number of syntypes not stated in original description; specimens not found in the ANIC(MMUS), see 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. [166]), Australia. - Culex quasilinealis Theobald, F.V. 1907. A Monograph of the Culicidae or Mosquitoes. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 4. [415].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH ♀ adult (specimen not present in the BMNH, see Townsend, B.C. 1990. Culicidae. 35–152 in Townsend, B.C., Chainey, J.E., Crosskey, R.W., Pont, A.C., Lane, R.P., Boorman, J.P.T. & Lowry, C.A. A catalogue of the types of bloodsucking flies in the British Museum (Natural History). Occasional Papers on Systematic Entomology 7: 1–371), Adelaide, SA. - Culicelsa fuscus Taylor, F.H. 1914. The Culicidae of Australia.—I. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 1913: 683-708 [699] [junior homonym of Culicelsa fuscus Theobald, 1905].
Type data:
Status unknown, whereabouts unknown 2♂ adults, Townsville, QLD. - Culex townsvillensis Taylor, F.H. 1919. Contributions to a knowledge of Australian Culicidae. No. iv. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 43: 826-843 [836] [nom. nov. for Culex fuscus Taylor, 1914].
Type data:
Syntype(s).
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Knight, K.L. & Stone, A. 1977. A Catalog of the Mosquitoes of the World (Diptera: Culicidae). The Thomas Say Foundation. College Park, Maryland : Entomological Society of America Vol. 6. [217] (extralimital synonymies)
- 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. [166] (details of each taxonomic decision for synonymy)
Distribution
States
New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Cosmotropical with distributions in warm temperate regions.
IBRA
NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)
Ecological Descriptors
Adult: pest, volant.
Larva: aquatic.
Extra Ecological Information
Adult a nocturnal biter and feeds on humans, birds, horses, dogs, rabbits, oxen, pigs, kangaroos, reptiles, amphibians and a wide range of mammals; major domesticated pest in many urban areas and in the tropics; important vector of sub-periodic and nocturnal periodic Bancroftian filariasis; vector of Dirofilaria immitis (canine heartworm), Saurofilaria and Oswaldofilaria larvae; major vector of myxomatosis and fowlpox viruses; potential role in the transmission of reticuloendotheliosis and reovirus type 3 viruses; major vector of Plasmodium relictum and P. cathermerium (avian malaria) in bird populations; experimental vector of Hepatozoon breinli in varanid lizards; isolation of Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus and a wide range of arboviruses from collections; larva found in many types of artificial environments near human habitation in clean or very polluted containers and ground pools such as water barrels, wells, ditches, water and septic tanks, privies, tyres, fountains, ponds, drainage canals, drains, transient pools, troughs, polluted creeks, large tree holes and axils of different plants; for extensive biological information see Lee et al. (1989: 201).
General References
Williams, C.R. & Kokkinn, M.J. 2000. Records of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from the Cooper Basin of north-eastern South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 124: 45-47
Common Name References
Bancroft, T.L. 1908. List of the mosquitoes of Queensland, with the original descriptions and notes on the life-history of a number. Annals of the Queensland Museum 8: 1-64 [10] (as Culex fatigans Wiedemann) (House Mosquito)
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-Apr-2012 | 20-Apr-2012 | MODIFIED | ||
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |