Culex (Culex) annulirostris Skuse

Harbach, Ralph E. & Wilkerson, Richard C., 2023, The insupportable validity of mosquito subspecies (Diptera: Culicidae) and their exclusion from culicid classification, Zootaxa 5303 (1), pp. 1-184 : 83

Culex (Culex) annulirostris Skuse

subspecies annulirostris Skuse, 1889 —original combination: Culex annulirostris . Distribution: Australia, Bismarck Archipelago, Cook Island, Easter Island, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Indonesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Timor, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wake Island ( Wilkerson et al. 2021, except Mariana Islands).

subspecies marianae Bohart & Ingram, 1946b —original combination: Culex (Culex) annulirostris marianae . Distribution: Mariana Islands ( Bohart & Ingram 1946b).

The nominotypical subspecies is widely distributed in the Australasian Region and occurs in eastern islands of Indonesia ( Maluku Islands and Timor) and northward into the Philippines. As indicated by Bohart (1957), “The typical subspecies is replaced in the Mariana Islands by subspecies marianae ”, which he recorded from Aguiguan, Anatahan, Pagan, Saipan and Tinian Islands in the contemporary Northern Mariana Islands and from Guam, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands ( Bohart & Ingram 1946b; Yamaguti & LaCasse 1950; Bohart 1957). The adults of subspecies marianae differ from those of the typical subspecies mainly in having a narrow line of pale scales on the caudal margins of abdominal terga II–IV and sometimes also on terga V–VII or VIII. Larvae usually have blunter dorsomental teeth and shorter anal papillae, normally shorter than the saddle ( Yamaguti & LaCasse 1950; Bohart 1957). Based on these seemingly consistent differences and the great distances between the Mariana Islands and islands that harbour populations of the typical form, and because evidence suggests that Cx. annulirostris is a complex of species ( Lee et al. 1989a), it seems likely that marianae is genetically distinct and should therefore be afforded specific status: Culex (Culex) marianae Bohart & Ingram, 1946b . Culex marianae is currently listed as a species in the Encyclopedia of Life.

Five nominal species are recognized as junior synonyms of Cx. annulirostris : Cx. jepsoni Bahr, 1912 (type locality: Fiji Islands), Cx. somerseti Taylor, 1912 (type locality: Somerset, Queensland, Australia), Culicelsa consimilis Taylor, 1913 (type locality: Ayr, Queensland, Australia), Culicelsa simplex Taylor, 1914 (type locality: Townsville, Queensland, Australia) and Cx. palmi Baisas, 1938 (type locality: Parañaque, now officially Pasay, Rizal Province, Luzon, Philippines). The type locality of Cx. annulirostris is located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. As it is probable that Cx. annulirostris is a complex of species ( Lee et al. 1989a), it is possible that the five nominal forms may represent at least three separate species: One in the Fiji Islands ( Cx. jepsoni ), one in the Philippines ( Cx. palmi ) and a third species in Queensland ( Cx. somerseti , Culicelsa consimilis and Culicelsa simplex ). For the time being, however, these nominal forms are retained as synonyms of Cx. annulirostris pending further consideration of their taxonomic status.