Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards

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 : 82

Culex (Culex) andersoni Edwards

subspecies abyssinicus Edwards, 1941 —original combination: Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. abyssinicus . Distribution: Ethiopia ( Edwards 1941).

subspecies andersoni Edwards, 1914 —original combination: Culex andersoni . Distribution: Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

subspecies bwambanus Edwards, 1941 —original combination: Culex (Culex) andersoni ssp. bwambanus . Distribution: Lesotho, Republic of South Africa, Uganda ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Edwards (1914) described Culex andersoni from specimens collected at Kabete, located outside the borders of Nairobi in the Central Province of Kenya, based principally on features of the male habitus and male genitalia.

Subspecies abyssinicus is only known from Ethiopia, and according to Edwards (1941) the adult is ornamented differently than the typical form but the male genitalia are essentially the same. Because the treatment of the genitalia is rather superficial, it is likely that some differences might be evident upon closer examination. Based on differences in ornamentation and allopatry, abyssinicus is hereby considered a separate species: Culex (Culex) abyssinicus Edwards, 1941 . This species should be added to the species of Culex listed in the Encyclopedia of Life.

Subspecies bwambanus and the nominotypical form are both reported from Uganda, and Edward (1941) indicated that they both occur in the Ruwenzori Mountains. However, Edwards described bwambanus from a Ruwenzori location while recognizing the presence of the typical form elsewhere in the same mountains. Although the Ruwenzori Mountains appear to be the only place where the two forms may be in sympatry, Edwards described bwambanus as a new subspecies because of differences in the pale scaling of the hindfemur of the adults, and nearly “hairless” maxillary palpi (“may be rubbed in the type ”), gonocoxite with a more prominent subapical lobe and a narrower gonostylus in the male. Since the available evidence indicates that bwambanus is morphological distinct in the absence of clinal variation, it is hereby afforded species status: Culex (Culex) bwambanus Edwards, 1941 . Culex bwambanus is currently listed as a species in the Encyclopedia of Life.