Hulecoeteomyia cherrapunjiensis, Natarajan, R., Rajavel, A. R. & Jambulingam, P., 2016

Natarajan, R., Rajavel, A. R. & Jambulingam, P., 2016, Description of a new species of the genus Hulecoeteomyia (Diptera: Culicidae) from Meghalaya, India, Zootaxa 4137 (3), pp. 330-338 : 330-336

Hulecoeteomyia cherrapunjiensis , n. sp.

Female. Head: Maxillary palpus brownish black, white tipped; proboscis ventrally with extensive pale scaling (0.75 from near base), pale scaling not produced onto lateral and dorsal surfaces; vertex with dark upright forked scales; pale creamy scaling in middle of vertex, along eye margins and at sides, 2 dark areas on either side of midline towards front. Thorax ( Fig. 1 A, B): Antepronotum with a line of mostly broad white scales anteriorly; postpronotum with many broad white scales posteriorly and a few ventrally and centrally, narrow pale scales dorsally and in a line on anterior margin; scutum with lines of pale yellowish scaling, acrostichal line forked at prescutellar space, submedian line ends at level of prescutal suture, posterior scutal fossal line extends posteriorly on lateral side of posterior dorsocentral area to posterior margin of scutum, a narrow lateral line on antealar and supraalar areas; midlobe of scutellum with narrow pale yellowish scales in centre, flat dark scales on either side, lateral lobes with flat dark scales, rarely also with few flat white scales; pleura with scales noticeably broad; prealar scale patch distinctly separated from upper mesokatepisternal scale patch; no scales on paratergite and subspiracular area ( Fig. 1 B). Legs: Forefemur anteriorly dark, pale scaleline along ventral boarder; midfemur with scattered pale scaling in longitudinal midline on about proximal 0.5, a small white spot dorsally just before apex; hindfemur with ventroapical pale area extensively produced onto anterior surface and not encircling apex, extreme apex dark-scaled, anterior submedian pale area not crossing dorsal surface; all tibia with a small dorsoapical pale spot; fore-and midtarsus with distinct basal white bands on tarsomeres 1‒3, less distinct basal pale scaling present on foretarsomere 3; hindtarsus ( Fig. 1 C) with prominent white basal bands on tarsomeres 1‒3, band on 3 extending nearly to midlength, narrow basal white band on hindtarsomere 4 and faint basal pale band on hindtarsomere 5. Wing: Scales dark. Abdomen: Terga dorsally dark-scaled, basolateral silvery white spot usually visible dorsally on all segments; white basal bands on sterna. Genitalia ( Fig. 1 D): Tergum VIII slightly wider than long, covered with minute spicules, moderately pigmented, base gently concave, apex broadly rounded, with several moderately long setae; sternum VIII usually slightly wider than long, covered with minute spicules, moderately pigmented, base slightly concave medially; apex with small, median emargination separating broadly rounded lobes, with numerous short, curved setae, basolateral setae absent; tergum IX moderately long and wide, strongly pigmented apically, comprised of 2 moderately long, moderately pigmented lateral plates separated mesally by lightly pigmented area, each plate distally with 6 or 7 moderately long setae; insula lip-like, covered with minute spicules, with 4 short setae laterally on each side; postgenital lobe covered with short spicules, moderately wide, apex straight; cercus moderately long, covered with minute to short spicules, apex broadly rounded, rarely with 1‒3 scales, several short and few moderately long setae.

Male. Essentially as in female except for sexual differences. Head: Maxillary palpus with basal pale scaling ventrally and laterally on palpomeres 4 and 5, a prominent basal white band laterally and dorsally on palpomere 3, shorter than 0.75 length of proboscis; proboscis with pale scales ventrally from about mid-length to apex; terga completely dark-scaled, basolateral silvery white scales on all terga but not visible dorsally, terga II‒IV may have mid-basal pale scales. Genitalia ( Fig. 2 A‒D): Ninth tergal lobes moderately separated, well sclerotized, protruding, each bearing 6‒9 moderately long setae; sternum IX ovoid, with 2 long and 1‒4 small setae; gonocoxite conical, covered with long setae along with small setae and scales, basal mesal lobe slightly protruding, with a tuft of 20‒25 long delicate setae; claspette stem short, slender, moderately curved, just extending beyond basal mesal lobe, one seta in the middle and several small setae, filament longer than stem, narrow at base, progressively expanded, narrowed and with pointed apex; gonostylus about 0.5 length of gonocoxite, with 1‒3 small setae near apex; gonostylar claw slender, about 0.25 length of gonostylus; aedeagus cylindrical, slightly less than twice as long as wide, slightly constricted at middle.

Pupa. Because emergence was very slow due to changing climate, this description is based on two pupal exuviae only. Cephalothorax: Pale yellowish; trumpet short, yellowish, well differentiated from cephalothorax; seta 1-CT with 2‒4 branches; 2-CT with 2‒5 branches; 3-CT with 1‒3 branches; 4-CT with 5‒7 branches; 6-CT with 2 or 3 branches; 7-CT with 4 or 5 branches; 8-CT with 4‒10 branches; 9-CT double. Metanotum: Seta 10-CT with 2 or 3 main branches, each with 3 or 4 branches beyond mid-length; 11-CT double; 12-CT triple. Abdomen: Seta 1-I well developed, with 8‒15 branches, dendritic; 3-I with 1‒3 long branches; 6-I single or double, sometimes further branches beyond mid-length; 1-I with 1‒3 branches; 1-II well developed, usually with 5‒7 branches; 1-III with 5 or 6 branches; 1-IV with 8 or 9 branches; 2-III‒VII inserted mesad of seta1 3-II,III single, sometimes 3-II double beyond base, as long or slightly longer than segment III; 5-IV‒VII single, as long or slightly longer than following segment; 6-I-VI usually single, sometimes double beyond base; 6-VII double, strong, stiff, barbed, same length as 9-VII; 4-VII single; 9-I‒VI small, single; 9-VII with 2 main branches, further 2 branches beyond midlength, strong, barbed; 9-VIII strong, with 5‒7 barbed branches. Paddle: Oval, outer margin with small saw-like serration, inner margin smooth; seta 1-Pa well developed, with 3‒5 thickened branches, sometimes further branches also beyond mid-length.

Larva ( Fig. 3 ). Chaetotaxy in Table 1 . Head: brownish yellow or darker; seta 1-C long, slender, curved mesad; 4‒6-C placed towards anterior margin of dorsal apotome, 4, 6-C inserted on level or slightly anterior to seta 7-C; 5- C stout,usually double, rarely 3-branched, inserted well posterior and between setae 4, 6-C; 6-C stiff, usually double, rarely 3-branched, same magnitude as seta 5-C; 8-C single; 10-C with 2, rarely 3, main branches, sometimes further branched; 14-C stout, short, V-shaped, rarely triple. Antenna: Shorter than head, dark brown, moderately spiculate; seta 1-A inserted about mid-length, with 2 or 3 stiff aciculate branches, not reaching apex of shaft; dorsomentum with 11‒13 teeth. Thorax: Seta 1-P usually with 3 (2‒4) strong aciculate branches; 3-P usually with 4 (3‒6) strong aciculate branches; 7-P usually double or triple; 4, 6-P single, moderately strong, aciculate; seta 7, 8-P strong, aciculate, 7-P usually double (2, 3), 8-P usually with 6 (5‒9) branches; 9, 10, 12-P single; 14-P stiff, double; 1-M same length as 3-M; 6-M usually with 6 (5‒9) aciculate branches; 1-M, -T, 14-M and 13-T of same magnitude. Abdomen: Integument of segments II‒VIII spiculate, spicules moderately dense along mid-dorsal surface; 6-I, II strong, double, sometimes triple or triple on one side only, branches aciculate; 6-III‒VI moderately strong, usually double (2, 3); 7-I, II strong, single, longer than seta 6-I, II; 1, 13-II‒V more or less equal in magnitude; 7-III‒V usually double (1‒3); 7-VI, VII single; 9-I usually with 4 (2‒4) stout branches; 9-II‒VI single, stout; 10-I‒VII single; 13-I‒V, VII usually double (1‒4); 13-VI usually with 4 (4‒7) branches; 2-VIII single, rarely double; 5-VIII usually double (1‒4), rarely further branches beyond mid-length; comb with 30‒57 scales in patch, individual scales with evenly rounded fringes apically. Siphon: Dark brown, paler at base and apex, middle of siphon somewhat swollen, distal portion tapered, length 0.6‒0.7mm, index 2.4‒2.8; pecten comprised of 13‒17 evenly spaced spines on about proximal 0.5 of siphon before seta 1-S and 1 or 2 distal to seta 1-S, spines gradually increasing in size distally, spines before seta 1-S each with 1 or 2 strong denticles, spines distal to seta 1-S without denticles; seta 1-S stiff, single or double, length about equal to diameter of siphon at insertion, not reaching apex of siphon. Saddle: Incomplete, microsculpture of short transverse rows of spicules, very prominent spicules and few smaller ones at dorsocaudal margin; seta 1-X stout, single, longer than saddle; 4-X usually with 2 (2, 3) branches, some of posterior setae without branches; anal papillae tapered with 11/2–21/2 times longer than saddle.

Type series. HOLOTYPE ♀ ( A22660 ) with dissected genitalia (G22660) mounted on microscope slide; allotype ♂ ( A23006 ) with associated larval (ls7927) and pupal (ps7927) exuviae mounted on the same slide and dissected genitalia mounted on a separate slide (G23006). The specimens bear the following collection data: India, Meghalaya, Cherrapunji, latitude 25°16.624´N, 91° 41.558´E; altitude 1370 m, collection date 29.07.2008, collected as larvae from Pandanus axils, coll. R. Natarajan (Deposited in the Mosquito Museum at the Vector Control Research Centre, Indira nagar, Puducherry, India). PARATYPES: 2♂ (A22918, A22941 ) with dissected genitalia (G22918, G22941) on microscope slides, 1♀ genitalia (G22973) mounted on a microscope slide, two unassociated larval exuviae (ls7922), and one L (L8014) bearing same collection data as holotype (Deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC).

1♀ ( A22973 ), 3♂ (A22942, A22946, A23019) with dissected genitalia (G22942, G22946, G23019) mounted on slides, two unassociated larval exuviae (ls7894, ls8009), one unassociated pupal exuvium (ps7894) mounted on microscope slides and 12L (L7877, L7930, L7934, L7949, L7950, L7951, L7962, L7968, L7969, L7971, L7972, L8024) mounted on slides, with same collection data as holotype (Deposited in the Mosquito Museum at the Vector Control Research Centre) ( Rajavel et al., 2005, 2011).

Etymology. This species is named for the Cherrapunji area in the Khasi forest of the eastern hill range in Meghalaya state of India where it was collected.

Bionomics. All specimens were obtained as larvae from the axils of a single Pandanus plant. Ayurakitia peytoni Reinert was found to be the only associated species. Nothing is known about the resting and biting behavior of the adult females.

Taxonomic discussion. Reinert (2000) divided the composite genus Aedes into two genera, Aedes Meigen and Ochlerotatus Lynch Arribalzaga , based on consistent primary characters of the female and male genitalia, pupa and larva. Presence of long setae laterally on each side of the midline of the insula of the female genitalia confirms that the new species conforms to genus Ochlerotatus of Reinert (2000). Presence of toothed ungues, broad VIII abdominal segment in females, maxillary palpus three quarters the length of the proboscis, phallosome not divided into lateral plates and absence of sclerotized teeth, and the gonocoxite of the male genitalia without projecting basal lobe carrying a long spine shows that the new species falls within subgenus Finlaya Theobald of Ochlerotatus in the classification of Reinert (2000).

Subgenus Finlaya of Reinert (2000) was a large heterogeneous assemblage of species, subjected to many taxonomic changes. Based on a comparative, morphological analysis of the female genitalia, Finlaya was divided into seven species assemblages, one of which is the Chrysolineatus Assemblage ( Reinert, 2002). The Chrysolineatus Assemblage differs from other assemblages by the presence of the following characters of the female genitalia: characteristic round shape and absence of scales on cercus; tergum IX comprised of 2 moderately pigmented lateral plates separated by lighter pigmented area; posterior margin of sternum VIII with minute to small median emargination, with numerous short, slightly curved setae. Based on the female genitalia characters of the new species, which correspond to those of the Chrysolineatus Assemblage, we assign the new species to genus Hulecoeteomyia since this name was subsequently elevated from synonymy with Finlaya by Reinert et al. (2008) for this group of species. It should be noted that Hulecoeteomyia was recently reduced to subgeneric status in Aedes by Wilkerson et al. (2015), but we prefer to retain the generic status of the group based on equivalent rank in the phylogenetic classification of Reinert et al. (2009) than its subgeneric status in the polyphyletic concept of an enormous genus Aedes .

There are 12 species in the genus Hulecoeteomyia : Hl. chrysolineata (Theobald) , Hl. fluviatilis Leicester , Hl. formosensis (Yamada) , Hl. harveyi (Barraud) , Hl. japonica (Theobald) , Hl. jugraensis Leicester , Hl. koreica (Edwards) , Hl. nigrorhynchus (Brug) , Hl. pallirostris (Edwards) , Hl. reinerti (Rattanarithikul &Harrison) , Hl. rizali (Banks) and Hl. sherki (Knight) . All of these species differ from Hl. cherrapunjiensis by the combination of adult and larval characters.

Adults of Hl. sherki , Hl. jugraensis and Hl. rizali differ from the adults of Hl. cherrapunjiensis by the absence of a fork of pale scaling (on the sides of the prescutellar bare space) at the posterior end of median longitudinal pale line of the scutum. Larvae of Hl. sherki , Hl. jugraensis and Hl. rizali strikingly differ from the larva of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in the following characters: From Hl. sherki in having setae 5, 6-C with 5‒8 branches, seta 14-C with 3‒6 branches and seta 1-S extending beyond the apex of the siphon; from Hl. jugraensis in having setae 5, 6- C with 3 or 4 branches, comb scales with apical spines; pecten spines not borne beyond seta 1-S; from Hl. rizali in having setae 5, 6-C with 7 or 8 branches, seta 14-C with 4‒7 branches and seta 1-S extending beyond the apex of the siphon apex.

Adults of Hl. nigrorhynchus , Hl. fluviatilis , Hl. koreica and Hl. japonica differ from the adults of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in having an entirely dark-scaled proboscis. In the larva, Hl. nigrorhynchus differs in having setae 5, 6-C with 6 branches, seta 14-C with 4 branches, comb scales apically pointed, pecten spines borne proximal to seta 1-S and seta 1-S reaching or extending beyond the apex of the siphon. Larval setae 5, 6-C have 5‒8 branches, and seta 7-T has stout, stubby branches in Hl. fluviatilis ; seta 5-C has 3‒7 branches and the pecten spines are borne proximal to seta 1-S in Hl. koreica ; setae 5, 6-C have 3‒6 branches in Hl. japonica .

Adults of Hl. formosensis , Hl. pallirostris and Hl. reinerti differ from the adults of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in having scales on the paratergite and subspiracular area. The larva of Hl. pallirostris differs from the larva of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in having seta 5-C with 12‒19 branches, seta 6-C with 6‒10 branches, comb scales with 2‒5 large prominent median apical spines ( Tewari&Hiriyan, 1996). Seta 5-C has 9‒22 branches in Hl. formosensis . Seta 1-C is bifid, each fork with along fine barb or brushy, seta 5-C has 17‒35 branches, seta 6-C with 6‒16 branches, and the comb scales have a strong median apical spine in Hl. reinerti ( Rattanarithikul &Harrison, 1988) .

Finally, the adults of Hl. chrysolineata and Hl. harveyi differ from the adults of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in having basal pale bands on only three hindtarsomeres. The larva of Hl. harveyi differs from the larva of Hl. cherrapunjiensis in having setae 5, 6-C with 4‒7 branches. Setae 5, 6-C have 5‒7 branches and the comb scales distinctly tapered to a stout central spine in Hl. chrysolineatus .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Hulecoeteomyia cherrapunjiensis sp. nov. Adult female, A. Thorax (dorsal); B. Head and thorax (lateral); C. Hindtarsus; D. Female genitalia.

FIGURE 2. Hulecoeteomyia cherrapunjiensis sp. nov. Male genitalia, A. Gonocoxite; B. Proctiger and tergum IX; C. Claspettes and sternum IX; D. Aedeagus.

FIGURE 3. Hulecoeteomyia cherrapunjiensis sp. nov. Fourth-instar larval exuviae, A. Thorax and abdominal segments I – III; B. Comb scales; C. Siphon.

Tables

TABLE 1. Number of branches for larval setae of Hl. cherrapunjiensis (1 Ɵ specimens).

Seta no.	HEAD	Pro	THORAX Meso- Meta’	I	II	III	ABDOMEN IV V	VI	VII	VIII
Ɵ	’	ƽ’12	’ ’	’	1	1	1 1	1	1	1
1	1	3(2’4) LA	ƽ(3’6) 3(3’ƽ)	4(3’ƽ)	3(2’4)	2(2’4)	3(2’4) 2(2’4)	2(2’4)	2(1,2)	1
2	’	1LA	2(2,3) 1	1(1,2)	1	1	1 1	1	1	1
3	’	4(3’6) LA	1LA 3(3’6)	1	1	1	1 1	1	1(1,2)	4(4’6)
4	2(1’3)	1ma	1ma 3’ƽ	ƽ(3’6)	4(2’ƽ)	3(2’4)	2 2(1’3)	1	1	1
ƽ	2	2(1,2) LA	1LA 1	3(2’8)	4(2’ƽ)	2(1’4)	1 2(1’3)	2(1’3)	3(2’4)	2(1’4)
6	2	1 LA	6(ƽ’9) LA 1	2(23) LA	2(23) LA	3(23) LA	3(23) LA 2(1’3) LA	2(23)	1
7 8 9	2(23) 1 2’4	2(23) LA 6(ƽ’9) LA 1	1 LA 9(4’1Ɵ) LA 8(ƽ’1Ɵ) LA 6(6’1Ɵ) 6(ƽ’9) LA 2(2’ƽ) LA	1LA ’ 4(2’4)	1 LA 1(12) 1(12)	2 1 1	2(1’4) 2(12) 1 1 1 1	1 ƽ(3’6) 1	1 6(ƽ’1Ɵ) 2(1’3)	1’S 1(12) 1X 1 2X 1L 3X 2L
1Ɵ	2’3	1 LA	1 LA 1 LA	1(1’2)	1	1	1 1	1	1
11	4(4’7)	2(1’4)	2 ’	ƽ(2’6)	1(12)	3(2’4)	2(2’4) 2(23)	3(23)	1
12	1(1’3)	1	1 LA 1	1	1	2(1’3)	3(2’4) 1(1’3)	1	1
13	1	’	9(7’13) đ ƽ(3’6)	2	2(1’4)	2(2’6)	3(2’4) 3(2’4)	4(4’7)	2(1’3)
14	2	2	4(3’7) ’	’	’	’	’ ’	’	’
1ƽ	4(3’ƽ)	’	’ ’	’	’	’	’ ’	’	’

A

= barbeđ; a = weakly barbeđ; đ = đenđritic; L = large; m = međium.