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

Genus Ochlerotatus

Classification · Pronunciation · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Range · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Ochlerotatus hendersoni - female diurnal mosquito - Ochlerotatus hendersoni - male eastern treehole mosquito - Ochlerotatus triseriatus - female woodland pool mosquito - Ochlerotatus canadensis - female Mosquito - Ochlerotatus squamiger woodland pool mosquite - Ochlerotatus canadensis - female eastern treehole mosquito - Ochlerotatus triseriatus - female mosquito - Ochlerotatus hendersoni - 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)
Tribe Aedini
Genus Ochlerotatus
Pronunciation
oh-klur-oh-TAY-tus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
formerly a subgenus of Aedes; elevated to genus level by Reinert (2000) (1)(2)
Range
represented throughout North America and the world
Life Cycle
Overwinter as eggs.
Eggs are laid above the water rim such as:
Remarks
Almost all North American species formerly placed in the genus Aedes were reclassified as Ochlerotatus species by Reinert (2000) (1).
There continues to be considerable opposition to the new classification but the genus name Ochlerotatus is now (2005) in widespread use.
After Reinert's reclassification, the few species that remained in Aedes included:
A. aegypti
A. albopictus
A. cinereus
A. vexans
In 2004, the group of Reinert, Kitching, and Harbach proposed elevating 46 other former subgenera of Aedine mosquitoes to the genus level. To anyone who has adopted this additional change, the first two species listed above are now considered Stegomyia aegypti and Stegomyia albopicta.
See Also
Aedes
Print References
Reinert, J. F. 2000. New classification for the composite genus Aedes (Diptera: Culicidae: Aedini), elevation of subgenus Ochlerotatus to generic rank, reclassification of the other subgenera, and notes on certain subgenera and species. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 16(3): 175-188. (1)
Internet References
molecular evidence; PDF doc supporting the split of Aedes and Ochlerotatus into two distinctly separate and monophyletic groups (John J. Shepard et al, Journal of Medical Entomology, 2006, courtesy Govt. of Connecticut)
mosquito name policy of the Journal of Medical Entomology and several other medical or vector/disease control journals in reference to names of Aedine mosquito genera and subgenera (Entomological Society of America)
classification change; PDF doc elevating Ochlerotatus to genus level (John Reinert, in Journal of the American Mosquio Control Association, 2000)
changes to names of Florida mosquitoes; PDF doc (John Reinert, in Newsletter of the Florida Mosquito Control Association, 2005)
Works Cited
1.New classification for the composite genus Aedes (Culicidae: Aedini), elevation of subgenus Ochlerotatus to generic rank...
Reinert, J.F. 2000. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 16(3): 175-188.
2.The Culicidae (Diptera): a review of taxonomy, classification and phylogeny
Harbach R.E. 2007. Zootaxa 1668: 591–638.
Contributed by Richard Leung on 14 March, 2005 - 6:50pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Omar Fahmy, Mike Quinn
Last updated 6 January, 2016 - 8:14pm

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