PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 109(4). 2007, pp. 948-956 DEVELOPMENT AND TAXONOMIC VALUE OF DORSAL TERTIARY FRINGE SCALES ON THE WINGS OF ADULT MOSQUITOES (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) John F. Reinert Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology (CMAVE), U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1600/1700 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, Florida 32608-1067, U.S.A. and collaborator Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — The condition of dorsal tertiary fringe scales on the wings of females and males for numerous species of tribe Aedini and representative species of other culicid tribes and subfamily Anophelinae is noted. With few exceptions the presence or absence of these scales appears to be consistent for species included in well-defined generic-level taxa. Key Words: Dorsal tertiary fringe scales, wing, Diptera, Culicidae, Anophelinae, Culicinae, Aedini, Aedeomyiini, Culicini, Culisetini, Mansoniini, Orthopodomyiini, Sabethini, Toxorhynchitini, Uranotaeniini Small, narrow to broad scales inserted parallel or at a slight angle to the dorsal posterior margin of the wings of adult mosquitoes are termed dorsal tertiary fringe scales (DTFS). Only the small scales on the dorsal surface of the posterior margin of the wing are re-ported herein since the tertiary fringe scales on the ventral posterior margin of the wing are normally reduced in number or completely absent in species posses-sing DTFS. Harbach and Knight (1980) provided illustrations of DTFS (as ter-tiary fringe scales), i.e.. Anopheles (Cel-lia) (Fig. 17f) and Culiseta inornata (Williston) (Fig. 19c,d). Their Figure 17a of Uranotaenia lowii Theobald illus-trates the absence of DTFS. The DTFS in mosquitoes may be of a uniform color or have pale ones intermixed or in small patches within darker-scaled areas. The DTFS are normally present on the entire dorsal posterior margin of females but some taxa have these scales totally absent or absent at least on the proximal 0.5 of the wing. These scales are absent in males of numerous culicid taxa but are present in others. The presence or absence and other characteristics of DTFS were found to be of importance in distinguishing species, species groups and generic-level taxa. Unfortunately, these scales are very rarely mentioned in taxonomic descriptions of species or higher-level taxa of Culicidae. The presence/absence of DTFS on the wing of females and males is indicated for 345 species in Table 1. The table primarily includes species of tribe Aedini but also includes representatives of other tribes and subfamily Anophelinae. Sub-families and tribes within Culicidae follow the classification outlined by Harbach and Kitching (1998). Generic
BioStor
