Species Aedes (Mucidus) alternans (Westwood, 1836)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Culex alternans Westwood, J.O. 1836. Insectorum nonnullorum novorum (ex ordine Dipterorum) descriptiones. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 4: 681-685 [publication dated 1835] [681].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ adult, Australia (as Novâ Hollandiâ).
• Culex commovens Walker, F. 1856. Diptera. Part V. pp. 415–474 in, Insecta Saundersiana: or characters of undescribed insects in the collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., & c. London : Van Voorst Vol. 1. 474 pp. [432].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 2♀ adults (previous references to a holotype were in error, 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 [62]), Australia (as New Holland).
• Culex hispidosus 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 [1726].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) ANIC(MMUS) ♂ adults (number of specimens not stated in original description), Hexham Swamps, near Newcastle, Richmond, and Mount Kembla, Illawarra, NSW.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Theobald, F.V. 1901. A Monograph of the Culicidae or Mosquitoes. Mainly compiled from the collections received at the British Museum from various parts of the world in connection with the investigation into the cause of malaria conducted by the Colonial Office and the Royal Society. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. I 424 pp. [269]
• Lee, D.J., Hicks, M.M., Griffiths, M., Russell, R.C. & Marks, E.N. 1984. The Culicidae of the Australasian Region. Nomenclature, synonymy, literature, distribution, biology and relation to disease. Genus Aedes. Subgenera Geoskusea, Halaedes, Huaedes, Leptosomatomyia, Levua, Lorrainea, Macleaya, Mucidus, Neomelaniconion, Nothoskusea, Ochlerotatus, Paraedes, Pseudoskusea, Rhinoskusea. Commonwealth Institute of Health. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Monograph Series. Entomology Monograph No. 2. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 3 257 pp. [73] (list of all synonyms, including an extralimital synonym)

Generic Combinations

• Aedes (Mucidus) alternans (Westwood, 1836). —
  Edwards, F.W. 1932. Diptera. Fam. Culicidae. Genera Insectorum 194: 1-258 [134]
  Wilkerson, R.C., Linton, Y-M., Fonseca, D.M., Schultz, T.R., Price, D.C., & Strickman, D.A. 2015. Making mosquito taxonomy useful: a stable classification of tribe Aedini that balances utility with current knowledge of evolutionary relationships. PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) 10(7): e0133602 [appendix S1]
• Mucidus alternans (Westwood, 1836). —
  Reinert, J.F., Harbach, R.E. & Kitching, I.J. 2004. Phylogeny and classification of Aedini (Diptera: Culicidae), based on morphological characters of all life stages. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142: 289-368
• Mucidus (Mucidus) alternans (Westwood, 1836). —
  Reinert, J.F., Harbach, R.E. & Kitching, I.J. 2008 [2007]. Phylogeny and classification of Ochlerotatus and allied taxa (Diptera: Culicidae: Aedini) based on morphological data from all life stages. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153: 29-114 [Date published 2008] [44]

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Widespread Australia, excluding TAS.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), 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), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), 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), Nullarbor (NUL), 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), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: pest, volant.

Larva: aquatic, predator.

Extra Ecological Information

Adult female a vicious diurnal biters and attacks humans, domestic animals and rabbits; adults caught in chicken-baited traps; nuisance pest in many areas; isolation of Ross River virus from specimens collected from the south coast of NSW; larva found in brackish and freshwater habitats, salt marshes, estuarine marshes, freshwater pools and creeks, rain or flood-filled pools, roadside ditches and irrigated pastures; larvae are predacious and at times cannibalistic from the 2nd instar onwards.

General References

Lee, D.J., Hicks, M.M., Griffiths, M., Russell, R.C. & Marks, E.N. 1984. The Culicidae of the Australasian Region. Nomenclature, synonymy, literature, distribution, biology and relation to disease. Genus Aedes. Subgenera Geoskusea, Halaedes, Huaedes, Leptosomatomyia, Levua, Lorrainea, Macleaya, Mucidus, Neomelaniconion, Nothoskusea, Ochlerotatus, Paraedes, Pseudoskusea, Rhinoskusea. Commonwealth Institute of Health. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Monograph Series. Entomology Monograph No. 2. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 3 257 pp. [73] (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. [10.16] (biology)

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] (Scotch Grey)

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 [1728] (Hexham Grey)

History of changes