- Culicidae » Culicinae » Orthopodomyiini
- Representative species shown here:
- Orthopodomyia albicosta
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Genus-specific Diagnostic Characters, Adult Stage
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(Pop-up windows must be enabled in your browser settings.)- 1. Distinctly
ornamented, most with narrow stripes
of white, silver, or sometimes gold scales - 2. Postspiracular setae (PS) absent
- 3. Tarsomere
1 of the fore- and midlegs (Ta-I1, -II1)
longer than
the four distal tarsomeres (Ta-I2-5, -II2-5) combined - 4. Tarsomere
4 of the fore- and midlegs shorter than tarsomere 5
(slightly longer than broad) (Ta-I4, -II4.)
- 1. Distinctly
ornamented, most with narrow stripes
Name-bearing Type
- 1904c:236 [pdf not available]
- Type Species: Orthopodomyia albipes Leicester (in Theobald1904c:237)
Classification
- Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Orthopodomyiini. Orthopodomyia is the only genus of tribe Orthopodomyiini. It includes 37 species divided between eight species groups.
Distribution
- Each of the species groups of genus Orthopodomyia is largely or entirely restricted to a single zoogeographic region. Most species occur in the Neotropical and Oriental Regions. Two Neotropical species extend their ranges into the USA and Canada, a number of species occur in Madagascar (only two species are known to occur elsewhere in the Afrotropical Region, i.e. Cameroon), and a single species, Or. pulcripalpis, occurs in the Palaearctic Region. No species of the genus occur in Australia.
Phylogeny
- The affinities of Orthopodomyia are uncertain. The genus was recovered as the sister of Culiseta + Toxorhynchites in the cladistic analysis of Harbach & Kitching (1998). Edwards (1932) believed that Orthopodomyia is most closely related to Culiseta (as Theobaldia). He noted the occurrence of a pair of thoracic air sacs in larvae that also occur in Culiseta fraseri, and elsewhere only in members of tribes Mansoniini (as genus Mansonia) and Toxorhynchitini (as genus Megarhinus). Phylogenetic relationships within the genus have not been investigated.
Characteristics
- Orthopodomyia are beautifully marked mosquitoes with bands and stripes of white, silver or sometimes gold scales. Some are mottled with pale and dark scales. They are readily distinguished from the adults of all other mosquito genera by having tarsomere 1 of the fore- and midlegs longer than the four distal tarsomeres combined, and tarsomere 4 shorter than tarsomere 5. Larvae lack a pecten, the comb is usually uniquely developed with a posterior row of long scales and an anterior row of shorter ones (rarely with one or three rows of scales) and abdominal segment VIII has a large dorsal sclerite (except in Or. alba). See Orthopodomyiini.
Bionomics
- Little is known about the biology of Orthopodomyia. Larvae occur principally in tree holes, but some species are found in bamboo, the axils of bromeliads and the spathes of Heliconia plants. Most species are also occasionally found in artificial containers. The larvae apparently feed by filtering microorganisms and particulate matter from the water. Adults inhabit forests and appear to be active only after dark. The feeding habits of females are largely unknown, but birds appear to be the primary hosts. Two species in the Oriental Region are known to approach and bite humans.
Medical
- None of the species of Orthopodomyia are of medical or economic importance to humans.
Important References
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Included Taxa
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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. |