Culex (Melanoconion) spissipes, (Theobald, 1903: 242)

Torres-Gutierrez, Carolina & Sallum, Maria Anice Mureb, 2015, Catalog of the subgenus Melanoconion of Culex (Diptera: Culicidae) for South America, Zootaxa 4028 (1), pp. 1-50 : 31

122. spissipes ( Theobald, 1903: 242) (F; Melanoconion ).

Holotype M: Trinidad ( NHM).

Distribution in South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Republic of Suriname, Venezuela. Type locality: Trinidad.

Bibliographic sources: This species was included in the Revision of the Spissipes Section by Sallum & Forattini (1996), with full description of female and male adults and notes on distribution and bionomics. Other relevant references in ( Pecor et al. 1992).

Some ecological notes in Forattini et al. (1986a; 1989a,b; 1991; 1993b,c; 1995) and Gabaldon et al. (1977). Geographical records in Forattini et al. (1970; 1973); Sutil (1980); Walder et al. (1984) (These authors listed it as Culex ferreri but later, Weaver et al. 2004, stated it was Cx. spissipes and not Cx. ferreri ); Dickerman et al. (1986); Roberts et al. (1987); Lane (1992); Groot et al. (1996); Quintero et al. (1996); Souto et al. (1996); Pecor et al. (2000); Mendez et al. (2001); Moncayo et al. (2001); Salas et al. (2001); Barrera et al. (2002); Ferro et al. (2003; 2008); Jones et al. (2004); Hutchings et al. (2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013); Turrell et al. (2005, 2006); Yanoviak et al. (2005); Barbosa et al. (2008); Johnson et al. (2008); Nunes et al. (2009); Ramos (2009); Suarez-Mutis et al. (2009); Confalonieri & Costa-Neto (2012); Berti et al. (2013); Del Ventura et al. (2013); Sá & Sallum (2013); Sant’Ana (2013); Andrews et al. (2014).

Synonyms:

fur ( Dyar & Knab, 1907c:13) (F; Melanoconion ). Holotype F: Colon, Canal Zone , Panama (NMNH).

menytes Dyar, 1918b: 125 . Holotype M: Trinidad River , Panama (NMNH).

haynei Komp & Curry, 1932: 82 (M). Holotype M (genitalia only): Mojinga Swamp , lower Chagres River, Canal Zone, Panama (NMNH).

alvarezi Sutil-Oramas, Pulido Florenzano & Amaritsta Meneses, 1987:85 (M). Holotype M: Chiricoa , San Camilo, Apure, Venezuela (DERM).

Additional comments: According to Shope et al. (1988) this spissipes is a potential vector of various viruses of Bunyaviridae family (i.e., Bimiti, Caraparu, Oriboca, Itaqui viruses) and strain III-B of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus ( Togaviridae ). Walder et al. (1984) documented the isolation of subtype ID of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus from this species in Venezuela; though this publication had a taxonomical mistake in treating Cx. spissipes as Cx. ferreri (later corrected in Weaver et al. 2004). The study by Turrell et al. (2005) recorded a single isolation of the Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus from mosquitoes collected in the Amazon Basin region of Peru. Additionally, Auguste et al. (2010) reported the isolation of Mucambo virus (Alphavirus, Togaviridae ) from Cx. spissipes mosquitoes collected in Trinidad.