INDO-ORIENTAL & PALEARCTIC REGIONS
[Guam invasive]
Etymology: not stated
Originally forest-associated, Armigeres subalbatus thrives in rural and sub-urban areas, and is now most closely associated with human settlements with poor sanitation. Armigeres subalbatus is the only member of the subgenus Armigeres known to occur in the Palearctic Region.
Type locality: Japan
Type depository: U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., United States (USNM)
DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS (Click photos to view; mouse over and click large photo to zoom in.)
ADULT (illustrated): Head: Proboscis curved downward and laterally compressed; eyes ventrally with 2 rows of scales. Thorax: Scutum without pair of submedian golden stripes, lateral margins with complete line of pale scales; prescutellar setae present; postspiracular setae present; lower anterior mesepimeral seta present. Abdomen: Terga with lateral pale patches not extending dorsally; III–VI-S with apical dark bands. Legs: Fe-III posteroventral surface with broad white band extending to or nearly to apex.
LARVA (not illustrated): Terminal segments: Comb scales narrow with rounded apex, evenly fringed apically and laterally with fine spicules; siphon without pecten.
TAXONOMIC KEYS
Darsie & Pradhan 1990
Darsie 2000b
Rattanarithikul et al. 2010
Exemplar DNA sequences
Ar. subalbatus COI: HQ398903–08, KC970285, KC970288–89, KM497419, KT358440–42, MG242530.
BIONOMICS
Immatures
Heavy rainfall causes the embryonic hatching stimulus in desiccation-tolerant eggs of Ar. subalbatus, leading to population peaks and biting nuisance. Armigeres subalbatus oviposit in contained sites with stagnant strongly polluted (foul) waters, or those with high organic content including natural containers—Pandanus axils, sago palm and banana stumps, fallen leaves and spathes, flower bracts, pitcher plants, bamboo, fruit shells and husks, hollow logs, rock and tree holes—and artificial containers, including septic tanks. Chitinous adaptations of the larval mandible and maxilla suggests that the species may be carnivorous, where particulate food resources are scarce.
Adults
Armigeres subalbatus bionomics follow distinct circadian rhythms, regulated by the phases of the moon. Host-seeking behaviors purportedly increase and decrease as the moon waxes and wanes. Biting cycles are crepuscular biting cycles, with highest activity at dusk (1700–1800) and a lesser peak at dawn. Egg hatching and adult eclosion occur exclusively in the daytime, while oviposition, larval molts and pupation occur at night. Females are highly anthropophilic, but will also feed on birds, cows and rabbits, and have been reported biting throughout the day in deep, dark forest.
DISTRIBUTION NOTES
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
WRBU VECTOR HAZARD REPORTS
None; View other WRBU Vector Hazard Reports
Available GIS Models:
IMPORTANT REFERENCES (full citations below)
Edwards, in Barraud 1934: 314 (from synonym with obturbans)
Bohart & Ingram 1946b: 62 (M*, F, P*, L*; bionomics, distribution, taxonomy)
LaCasse & Yamaguti 1950: 53 (M*, F*, P*, L*; bionomics, distribution, taxonomy)
Stone & Knight 1955: 287 (type information)
Hara 1957: 50 (F*)
Thurman 1959(1958)a: 390 (M*; taxonomy)
Joshi et al. 1965 (distribution; Nepal)
Aslamkhan 1971b (distribution; Pakistan)
Mattingly 1971a: Pl. 4 (M, F heads*), Pl. 13 (P terminal segments*), Pl. 29 (L head*, terminal segments*)
Mattingly 1971d: 122 (E*)
Matsuo et al. 1972: 361 (E*)
Moriya et al. 1973 (E*)
Baisas 1974: 80 (M, F*, P*, L*; taxonomy, bionomics, distribution; Philippines)
Tanaka et al. 1975c: 224 (distribution)
Tanaka et al. 1979: 447 (M*, F*, L*)
Darsie & Pradhan 1990 (F, L; taxonomy, keys, bionomics, distribution; Nepal)
Miyagi et al. 1994: 21 (distribution)
Darsie 2000b: 111 (P*; taxonomy, key)
Reinert 2002d: Fig. 1 (F*)
Rattanarithikul et al. 2010 (F*, L*; keys, bionomics, distribution; Thailand)
CURRENT SYNONYMS AND SUBSPECIES
syn. panalectoris Giles
1901a: 608 (A; Culex). Type locality: Calcutta, West Bengal, India (NHMUK). References: Thurman 1959b: 78 (synonymy).
ssp. chrysocorporis Hsieh & Liao
1956: 126 (M*, F*, L*; as obturbans variety). Type locality: Amoy, China [People's Republic of China] (LU). Distribution: People’s Republic of China. References: Harbach & Howard 2007: 41 (to subspecies). Etymology: gold body (L); “mesonotum golden brown”.
CITED REFERENCES
Baisas, F. E. (1974). The mosquito fauna of Subic Bay Naval Reservation, Republic of the Philippines. San Francisco: Headquarters, First Medical Service Wing (PACAF), San Francisco.
Bohart, R.M., & Ingram, R.L. (1946b). Mosquitoes of Okinawa and islands in the Central Pacific. In: United States NAVMED (Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department) (pp. 110). Washington.
Darsie, R.F., Jr. (2000b). Description of the pupae of five species in the subgenus Armigeres, genus Armigeres Theobald, with a key to species of the known pupae of the subgenus (Diptera: Culicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 102(1), 108-18–119.
Darsie, R.F., Jr., & Pradhan, S.P. (1990). The mosquitoes of Nepal: Their identification, distribution and biology. Mosquito Systematics, 22(2), 69–130.
Giles, G.M. (1901a). A plea for the collective investigation of Indian Culicidae with suggestions as to moot points for enquiry, and a prodromus of species known to the author. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 13, 592–610.
Hara, J. (1957). Studies on the female terminalia of Japanese mosquitoes. Japanese Journal of Experimental Medicine, 27, 45–91.
Harbach, R.E., & Howard, T. M. (2007). Corrections in the status and rank of names used to denote varietal forms of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). Zootaxa, 1542, 35–48.
Hsieh, L.-K., & Liao, T.-H. (1956). A list of Amoy mosquitoes with the description of a new species and a new variety. Acta Entomologica Sinica, 6, 123–127.
Joshi, G., Pradhan, S., & Darsie, Jr., R.F. (1965). Culicine, Sabethine and Toxorhynchitine mosquitoes of Nepal including new country records (Diptera: Culicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 67(3), 137–146.
La Casse, W.J., & Yamaguti, S. (1950). Mosquito fauna of Japan and Korea (with 95 original plates): Office of the Surgeon, Headquarters 8th Army, APO 343.
Matsuo, K., Yoshida, Y., & Kunou, I. (1972). The scanning electron microscopy of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). I. The egg surfaces of five species of Aedes and Armigeres subalbatus. Journal of the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 81, 358–363.
Mattingly, P.F. (1971a). Contributions to the mosquito fauna of Southeast Asia. XII. Illustrated keys to the genera of mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 7(4), 1–84.
Mattingly, P.F. (1971d). Mosquito Eggs. XIII. Genus Armigeres Theobald. Mosquito Systematics Newsletter, 3(3), 122–129.
Miyagi, I., Toma, T., Mogi, M., Martono, S.Y.-., Topranoto, Z. A., & Dachlan, Y. P. (1994). Mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) from Lombok Island, Indonesia. Mosquito Systematics, 26(1), 19–24.
Moriya, K., Yabe, T., & Harada, F. (1973). Chorionic markings of some aedine mosquitoes in Japan. 1. Preliminary observations by a scanning electron microscope and a reflected lighting microscope. Japanese Journal of Sanitary Zoology, 24(1), 47–55.
Rattanarithikul, R., Harbach, R.E., Harrison, B.A., Panthusiri, P., Coleman, R.E., & Richardson, J.H. (2010). Illustrated keys to the mosquitoes of Thailand VI. Tribe Aedini. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 41(1), 1–225.
Reinert, J.F. (2002d). Comparative anatomy of the female genitalia of genera and subgenera in tribe Aedini (Diptera: Culicidae). Part XII. Genus Armigeres Theobald. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 32(5), 31–44.
Stone, A., & Knight, K.L. (1955). Type specimens of mosquitos in the United States National Museum: I. The genera Armigeres, Psorophora and Haemagogus (Diptera, Culicidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 282–289.
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.
Tanaka, K., Saugstad, E.S., & Mizusawa, K. (1975c). Mosquitoes of the Ryukyu Archipelago (Diptera: Culicidae). Mosquito Systematics, 7(3), 207–233.
Thurman, E.B. (1959a). Revalidation of three species of Armigeres Theobald, 1901 (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 48 (1958), 389–393.
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.
CITE THIS PAGE
Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (Year). Armigeres subalbatus species page. Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit Website, http://wrbu.si.edu/vectorspecies/mosquitoes/subalbatus, accessed on [date (e.g. 03 February 2020) when you last viewed the site].
