AUSTRALASIA, AFROTROPICAL, NEARCTIC, NEOTROPICAL, ORIENTAL, & PALEARCTIC REGIONS
Generic abbreviation: Or.
Type species: Orthopodomyia albipes Leicester
Etymology: Straight-footed fly (Gr).
Adult Orthopodomyia are differentiated from all other mosquito genera by an incredibly short fourth tarsal segment (Ta4<Ta5), and the first tarsomere (Ta1) being longer than all other tarsomes combined (Ta2–5) on the fore and mid legs. The genus Orthopodomyia is the only member of the tribe Orthopodomyiini. The 36 species in the genus are subdivided into eight informal groups, but no subgenera have been proposed.
Orthopodomyia species are primarily distributed in the Oriental and Neotropical Regions, although Or. alba Baker, Or. kummi Edwards and Or. signifera (Coquillett) extend up into the Nearctic. In the Afrotropical Region, only three occur on the mainland, while a further nine species are endemic to Madagascar. Orthopodomyia pulcripalpis (Rondani) is the only species to occur in the Palearctic Region.
DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS (Click photos to view; mouse over and click large photo to zoom in.)
ADULT (illustrated): Thorax: Strikingly marked, usually with stripes of white, silver or gold scales, some species with distinctive mottling; postspiracular setae absent. Legs: Ta-I,II1 longer than combined Ta-I,II2–5; Ta-I,II4 shorter than Ta-I,II5.
LARVA (not illustrated): Head: Seta 1-A inserted on basal half of antenna; setae 4-7-C well-developed, multi-branched. Terminal segments: Segment VIII with a distinct dorsal plate (except Or. alba); no comb plate; comb scales usually in two rows, with posterior row scales usually markedly longer than anterior; siphon with a single pair of seta 1-S; saddle usually complete; seta 4-X with ≥6 pairs of setae; pecten absent.
TAXONOMIC KEYS
Knight & Mattingly 1950
Lane 1953 (Neotropics)
Delfinado 1966a (Philippines)
Zavortink 1971 (Southeast Asia)
Lee et al. 1988 (Australasia)
Service 1990 (Afrotropics)
Brunhes & Hervy 1995
Darsie & Ward 2005 (North America)
Rattanarithikul & Harrison et al. 2005 (Thailand)
Rattanarithikul et al. 2007 (Thailand)
WRBU – Genera – Global – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Afrotropical – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Afrotropical – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Australasia – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Australasia – Larva
WRBU – Genera – IndoMalaya – Adult
WRBU – Genera – IndoMalaya – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Oriental – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Oriental – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Eastern Palearctic – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Eastern Palearctic – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Western Palearctic – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Western Palearctic – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Nearctic – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Nearctic – Larva
WRBU – Genera – Neotropical – Adult
WRBU – Genera – Neotropical – Larva
Exemplar DNA sequences
Or. alba COI: GU908120
Or. anopheloides COI: AY917200, LC054512–16
Or. fascipes COI: MF172345–46
Or. pulcripalpis COI: KY608735
All Orthopodomyia DNA sequences
BIONOMICS
Immatures
Orthopodomyia immatures are typically found in tree holes, but have been reported in water collections in bamboo, Heliconia flowers, and artificial containers, including tires. Nearctic Or. alba and Or. signifera are found in deep tree rot holes, extending to the heartwood and filled from the trees vascular system.
Adults
Orthopodomyia species are closely associated with forests or woodlands across the globe, but Or. alba and Or. signifera are numerous in residential areas in Illinois, United States. Although birds are the primary hosts of most Orthopodomyia species, Oriental species Or. albipes and Or. andamanensis Barraud will also attack people in the forest at night. In the northern United States, Or. alba overwinters as larvae—able to withstand freezing in solid ice for up to one week as second and third instars—whereas in the warmer southern United States, the species overwinters as adults.
*Associated pathogens: This list reports bacteria, viruses, and parasites recovered from, or experimentally passed through this species, and does not imply field vector status.
IMPORTANT REFERENCES (full citations below)
Theobald 1904c: 236 (as genus)
Barraud 1934 (taxonomy, bionomics; southern Asia)
Knight & Mattingly 1950: 1 (taxonomy, keys, Anopheloides subgroup)
Lane 1953 (taxonomy, keys, bionomics; Neotropics)
Thurman 1959 (taxonomy, bionomics, review; Thailand)
Delfinado 1966a (taxonomic key; bionomics; Philippines)
Zavortink 1968 (world revision)
Belkin et al. 1970 (taxonomy, bionomics; Jamaica)
Mattingly 1971c: 66 (E)
Zavortink 1971 (review, taxonomy, bionomics, keys; Southeast Asia)
Tanaka et al. 1979 (taxonomy, bionomics; Japan)
Lee et al. 1988 (taxonomy, bionomics, key; Australasia)
Service 1990 (taxonomy, keys, bionomics; Afrotropics)
Brunhes & Hervy 1995 (taxonomy, keys, bionomics; Afrotropical)
Harbach & Kitching 1998 (phylogeny)
Darsie & Ward 2005 (F, L; keys; North America)
Rattanarithikul & Harrison et al. 2005 (F, L; tax. keys, bionomics; Thailand)
Rattanarithikul et al. 2007 (F, L; keys, bionomics; Thailand)
Byrd et al. 2012 (molecular phylogeny; Signifera Group; North America)
VALID SUBGENERA
None
CURRENT GENERIC SYNONYMS
syn. Bancroftia Lutz 1904: 40, 59 in Bourroul 1904. Type species: Bancroftia albipes Lutz. Edwards 1913c: 239 (synonymy).
syn. Pneumaculex Dyar 1905a: 46 (as genus). Type species: Culex signifer Coquillett. Edwards 1913c: 239 (synonymy).
syn. Newsteadina Theobald 1909 (1908)a: 297 (as genus). Type species: Culex arboricollis Charmoy. Edwards 1920b: 135 (synonymy).
syn. Thomasina Newstead & Carter 1911a: 553. Type species: Mansonia longipalpis Newstead & Carter. Howard et al. 1917: 878 (synonymy).
CITED REFERENCES
Barraud, P. J. (1934). The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Diptera. Vol. 5. Family Culicidae, tribes Megarhinini and Culicini (Vol. 5). London: Taylor and Francis.
Belkin, J.N., Heinemann, S.J., & Page, W.A. (1970). The Culicidae of Jamaica (Mosquito studies. XXI) Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 6(1), 458.
Bourroul, C. (1904). Mosquitos do Brasil. Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, 78pp.
Brunhes, J., & Hervy, J. P. (1995). Insectes diptères Culicidae, Culicinae genre Orthopodomyia de la sous-région malgache et de la région afrotropicale. Faune de Madagascar, 85, 1–119.
Byrd, B.D., Harrison, B.A., Zavortink, T.J., & Wesson, D.M. (2012). Sequence, secondary structure, and phylogenetic analyses of the ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) in members of the North American Signifera group of Orthopodomyia (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology, 49(6), 1189–1197.
Darsie, R.F., Jr., & Ward, R.A. (2005). Identification and geographical distribution of the mosquitoes of North America, north of Mexico. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
Delfinado, M.D. (1966a). The culicine mosquitoes of the Philippines, tribe Culicini (Diptera, Culicidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 7, 1–252.
Dyar, H.G. (1905a). Remarks on genitalic genera in the Culicidae. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 7, 42–49.
Edwards, F.W. (1913c). New synonymy in Oriental Culicidae. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 4, 221–242.
Edwards, F.W. (1920b). Notes on the mosquitos of Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 11, 133–138.
Harbach, R.E. & Kitching, I.J. (1998). Phylogeny and classification of the Culicidae (Diptera). Systematic Entomology, 23(4), 327–370.
Howard, L.O., Dyar, H.G., & Knab, F. (1917). The mosquitoes of North and Central America and the West Indies. Systematic description. Part II. Carnegie Institute of Washington.
Knight, K.L., & Mattingly, P.F. (1950). The Orthopodomyia anopheloides subgroup of mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 52, 1–20.
Lane, J. (1953). Neotropical Culicidae (Vols. I, II). São Paulo: University of São Paulo.
Lee, D.J., Hicks, M.M., Debenham, M.L., Griffiths, M., Bryan, J.H., & Marks, E.N. (1988b). The Culicidae of the Australasian region. Volume 9. Commonwealth Department of Health, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Monograph Series, 2.
Lee, D.J., Hicks, M.M., Debenham, M.L., Griffiths, M., Bryan, J.H., & Marks, E.N. (1988c). The Culicidae of the Australasian region. Volume 10. Commonwealth Department of Health, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Monograph Series, 2.
Mattingly, P.F. (1971c). Further notes on genera Orthopodmyia and Mimomyia. Mosquito Systematics Newsletter, 3(2), 66–68.
Newstead, R., & Carter, H.F. (1911a). On a new genus of Culicinae from the Amazon region. Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology, 4, 553–556.
Rattanarithikul, R., Harbach, R.E., Harrison, B.A., Panthusiri, P., & Coleman, R.E. (2007). Illustrated keys to the mosquitoes of Thailand. V. Genera Orthopodomyia, Kimia, Malay, Topomyia Tripteroides, and Toxorhynchites. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 38 (Supplement 2), 1–65.
Rattanarithikul, R., Harrison, B.A., Panthusiri, P., & Coleman, R.E. (2005). Illustrated keys to the mosquitoes of Thailand. I. Background; geographic distribution; lists of genera, subgenera, and species; and a key to the genera. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 36(1), 1–80.
Service, M.W. (1990). Handbook to the Afrotropical toxorhynchitine and culicine mosquitoes, excepting Aedes and Culex. British Museum (Natural History).
Tanaka, K., Mizusawa, K., & Saugstad, E.S. (1979). A revision of the adult and larval mosquitoes of Japan (including the Ryukyu Archipelago and Ogasawara Islands) and Korea (Diptera: Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 16, 1–987.
Theobald, F.V. (1904c). New Culicidae from the Federated Malay States. The Entomologist, 37, 12–15, 36–39, 77–78, 111–113, 163–165, 211–213, 236–239.
Theobald, F.V. (1909a). A new culicid genus. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 2(1908), 297.
Thurman, E.B. (1959b). A contribution to a revision of the Culicidae of northern Thailand. Bulletin of the University of Maryland Agriculture Experimental Station A, 100, 1–177.
Zavortink, T.J. (1968). Mosquito studies (Diptera, Culicidae) VIII. A prodrome of the genus Orthopodomyia. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 3(2), 1–221.
Zavortink, T.J. (1971). Contributions to the mosquito fauna of Southeast Asia. IX. The genus Orthopodomyia Theobald in Southeast Asia. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 7(3), 1–37.
CITE THIS PAGE
Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (Year). Orthopodomyia genus page. Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit Website, http://wrbu.si.edu/vectorspecies/genera/orthopodomyia, accessed on [date (e.g. 03 February 2020) when you last viewed the site].
