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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Mosquitoes and Midges (Culicomorpha) » Mosquitoes (Culicidae) » Anopheles » Anopheles punctipennis

Species Anopheles punctipennis

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Works Cited
Mosquito - Anopheles punctipennis - male Mosquito - Anopheles punctipennis - male Anopheles punctipennis Anopheles punctipennis - male Anopheles punctipennis - female Anopheles punctipennis Anopheles punctipennis? - Anopheles punctipennis - female Anopheles - Anopheles punctipennis - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))
Infraorder Culicomorpha (Mosquitoes and Midges)
Family Culicidae (Mosquitoes)
Genus Anopheles
Species punctipennis (Anopheles punctipennis)
Other Common Names
Woodland Malaria Mosquito
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Anopheles punctipennis (Say)
Orig. Comb: Culex punctipennis Say 1823
Numbers
17 spp. of Anopheles n. of Mex.
Identification
Adult Female: wing pattern is all you need for identification. Very distinctive wings with predominantly dark scales and cream colored scales in the costal and subcostal areas.

Larva: head hairs 5, 6, 7 are long, multibranched and plumose. Head hairs 8 and 9 usually with 5 to 7 branches. Lateral setae on abdominal segments IV-VI are not plumose.
Range
e. US to Rocky Mtns, w. coast / Mex. (1)(2)(3), dist. map for TX (4)
Habitat
Adult females overwinter in abandoned buildings, cellars, caves, hollow trees, and similar habitats. (3)
Larvae are usually found in semi-permanent and permanent ponds, margins of slow moving streams, rain-water barrels and other artificial containers. (5)
Season
Adults: All year, but reach their greatest abundance in early Spring and late Fall
Larvae: May - September
Food
Females prefer mammals and birds for blood meals.
Life Cycle
This is a multivoltine species (multiple generations per year).
Click on an image to view the life cycle:
Remarks
Listed by the CDC as producing WNV positives
a vector of endemic malaria parasites in North American white-tailed deer(6), and historically a vector of introduced human malaria parasites in North America (7)
See Also
Anopheles perplexens - Range: scattered e. US. (1)
Works Cited
1.Identification And Geographical Distribution Of The Mosquitoes: Of North America, North Of Mexico
Richard F., Jr. Darsie, RONALD A. WARD, Chien C. Chang, Taina Litwak. 2004. University Press of Florida.
2.Mosquitoes of the southeastern United States
Nathan D. Burkett-Cadena. 2013. The University of Alabama Press. xiii + 188 pp.
3.Handbook of the Mosquitoes of North America, 2nd Ed.
Matheson, R. 1966. Hafner Publishing Company, NY. viii + 314 pp.
4.County Maps of Texas' 85 Mosquito Species - Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
5.Identification Guide to the Mosquitos of Connecticut
Theodore G. Andreadis, Michael C. Thomas, John J. Shepard. 2005. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
6.Hidden in plain sight: Cryptic and endemic malaria parasites in North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
Martinsen et al. 2016. Science Advances, 2(2): e1501486.
7.Experiments on the development of malaria parasites in three American species of Anopheles.
King, W.V. 1916. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 23(6): 703–716.
Contributed by Omar Fahmy on 4 July, 2006 - 12:57pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, Wisconsin Oecanthinancy
Last updated 24 April, 2016 - 11:46pm

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