identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
03A987B3992A880D07B6FBD156C5F925.text	03A987B3992A880D07B6FBD156C5F925.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Culex (Melanoconion) adamesi Sirivanakarn & Galindo 1980	<div><p>Culex (Melanoconion) adamesi Sirivanakarn &amp; Galindo, 1980 ( Diptera: Culicidae)</p><p>is a member of the Crybda Group, Pedroi Subgroup of the Spissipes Section of the subgenus, a taxonomic grouping that also includes several natural (enzootic) vectors of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (Sallum &amp; Forattini 1996; Belkin et al. 1970; Ferro et al. 2003; Weaver et al. 2004). Other members of the Pedroi Subgroup (sensu Sallum &amp; Forattini 1996) are Cx. crybda Dyar, 1924, Cx. epanastasis Dyar, 1922, Cx. pedroi Sirivanakarn &amp; Belkin, 1980, Cx. ribeirensis Forattini &amp; Sallum, 1985, Cx. extenuatus Talaga &amp; Duchemin, 2025 (in Talaga et al. 2025) and Cx. carincii Talaga &amp; Duchemin, 2025 (in Talaga et al. 2025). Sirivanakarn &amp; Galindo (1980) described Cx. adamesi from specimens (all life stages) collected in the Canal Zone of Panama (Fig. 1), but they also examined conspecific specimens from Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana and northeastern Brazil (Pará State). Need et al. (1993) later reported the capture of females from the Iquitos area of eastern Peru, primarily using Shannon traps with human bait.</p><p>Relatively little has been published regarding the biology, ecology and medical importance of Cx. adamesi . As part of their description, Sirivanakarn &amp; Galindo (1980) indicated that “adults preferred the blood of rodents, but also fed on other mammals and birds, both in the forest canopy and on the ground.” A predilection for biting rodents is shared among several other species in the Spissipes Section (Tempelis &amp; Galindo 1975; Christensen et al. 1996), a behavior which contributes to the importance of this group for transmitting Venezuelan equine encephalitis and Madariaga viruses (Weaver et al. 2004; Torres et al. 2017). Ferro et al. (2003) demonstrated that Cx. adamesi serves as a secondary vector of VEEV subtype ID in the Magdelena River Valley, Colombia. Adults and immature stages of Cx. adamesi have mostly been collected in humid lowland forests and associated wetlands (Sirivanakarn &amp; Galindo 1980; Need et al. 1993). Larvae of Cx. adamesi have been collected from freshwater wetlands with emergent and floating vegetation in forest environments in Panama (summarized in Sallum &amp; Forattini 1996).</p><p>Here, we provide the first report of Cx. adamesi from Guyana, northern South America. A single female was collected attempting to bite coauthor TB during landing collections conducted at a police station, 29 May 2025, at approximately 20:00 h, in Region 1-Arakaka (latitude: 7.578895, longitude: -60.0194). The specimen was pinned and the dorsum of the head, scutum and abdomen, along with lateral aspects of the thorax and legs, were photographed using a Canon digital SLR camera (5D) following methods described in Burkett-Cadena et al. (2022). The camera aperture was set to a very narrow focal range (5.0) so that numerous (70‒150) images of narrow depth of focus could be taken in series. Resulting images were stacked using software (ZereneStacker Professional) then cleaned and edited using Photoshop 2025 (Adobe, USA). The female was recognizable as a member of the Spissipes Section of the subgenus Melanoconion by the predominance of narrow scales on the vertex of the head (Fig. 2a). The specimen was clearly recognizable as Cx. adamesi by the presence of narrow golden scales on the vertex and scutum (Fig. 2a), the presence of a large patch of pale scales on the upper mesokatepisternum (Fig. 2b), presence of complete pale-scaled bands on abdominal segments II‒VI (Fig. 2c) and the absence of pale “knee spots” or pale-scaled bands on the hindtarsomeres (Fig. 2d). These and all other characters examined agreed with those described in Sirivanakarn &amp; Galindo (1980) and Sallum &amp; Forattini (1996), including the color of the erect forked scales of the vertex and occiput, color of the pleural integument and color of the scales and setae of the thorax. The specimen is deposited in the Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vector Control Services, Ministry of Health, Georgetown (Guyana) for permanent reference.</p><p>In the adults, Cx. adamesi can be separated from Cx. epanastasis, Cx. extenuatus and Cx. pedroi by the completely dark-scaled hindtarsomeres, from Cx. carincii by the pleural integument without a conspicuous pattern of dark spots and from Cx. crybda and Cx. ribeirensis by the presence of complete pale-scaled bands on abdominal terga II‒VI (Sallum &amp; Forattini 1996; Talaga et al., 2025).</p><p>This record fills a substantial gap in the distribution of Cx. adamesi in the neotropics. Considering that Cx. adamesi is also known from Brazil and French Guiana, it is plausible that this species is also present in Suriname. This record relies on one female captured by human landing catch and identified based solely upon external morphological characteristics. New species of Culex subgenus Melanoconion are regularly found in South America, some of which are morphologically indistinguishable from described species. This record would be strengthened by confirmation in the future with additional specimens, male genitalia and DNA sequences. Talaga et al. (2025) provided a robust framework for integrating morphological and molecular records of Culex species in South America, which could help to resolve the challenges of studying this diverse group.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A987B3992A880D07B6FBD156C5F925	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Burkett-Cadena, Nathan Daniel;Bowman, Tashanna S.;Butters, Sherry-Ann;Pollard, Dwain D.;Nelson, Keisha A.;Niles-Robin, Reza;Feng, Rachel Shui;Sandiford, Simone L.	Burkett-Cadena, Nathan Daniel, Bowman, Tashanna S., Butters, Sherry-Ann, Pollard, Dwain D., Nelson, Keisha A., Niles-Robin, Reza, Feng, Rachel Shui, Sandiford, Simone L. (2026): First record of Culex (Melanoconion) adamesi (Diptera: Culicidae) from Guyana. Zootaxa 5752 (1): 141-144, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5752.1.7, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5752.1.7
