Culex ( Culiciomyia ) sasai (Diptera: Culicidae), senior synonym of Cx . spiculothorax and a new country record for Bhutan

A study of Anopheles monticola of the Baileyi Complex, Culex sasai, and Lutzia vorax (Diptera: Culicidae) in Yunnan Province, China

“…It should be noted that the syntype specimens do not have pale fringe spots. The variation of pale fringe spots in members of the Baileyi and Gigas Complexes was previously reported (Rattanarithikul et al 2006, Harbach et al 2017). Variation of pale fringe spots has also been observed in other Anopheles species, for example, species of the Funestus Group (see Harrison 1980) and species of the Hyrcanus Group (see Harrison and Scanlon 1975).…”

“…The branching of larval setae and the morphology of the adults conform to the characters of Cx. sasai as described by Phanitchakun et al (2017), especially the presence of vesicular spicules on the dorsal surface of thoracic integument of all larvae examined. Six COI sequences of larval specimens from Yunnan were recovered in a clade consisting of sequences of Cx.…”

“…Morphological characters were examined and compared with the descriptions of species of the Baileyi Complex (in Christophers 1933, Somboon et al 2020, 2022), Cx. sasai/spiculothorax (in Kano et al 1954, Bram 1967, Tanaka et al 1979, Phanitchakun et al 2017), and Lt. halifaxii , Lt. vorax , and Lt. chiangmaiensis Somboon & Harbach (in Bram 1967, Lu et al 1997a, Tanaka 2003, Dong et al 2009, Phanitchakun et al 2019, Somboon and Harbach 2019). The morphological terminology used herein is defined in the Anatomical Glossary of the Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory (http://mosquito-taxonomic-inventory.myspecies.info/node/11027).…”

“…Culex ( Culiciomyia ) sasai Kano,Nitahara&Awayawasdescribed from Japan (Kano et al 1954) and has been recorded from Taiwan (Chen 1974), South Korea (Lee 2003), Thailand (Rattanarithikul et al 2005) and Bhutan (Phanitchakun et al 2017). Dong et al (2009) described 12 species of Culiciomyia Theobald in Yunnan, but did not include Cx.…”

“…spiculothorax Bram, which was described from Thailand (Bram 1967) but recognized as the synonym of Cx. sasai by Phanitchakun et al (2017), was recorded only from Hong Kong (Chau 1982, Lu et al 1997a, Rueda et al 2004). The present study reports, for the first time, the occurrence of Cx.…”