Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory

The current formal classification of tribe Aedini based on phylogenetic relationships (Reinert et al., 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009) is compared with the traditional phenetic classification of the tribe in the attachment below. The latter, which largely dates from Edwards (1932), is the composite classification of aedine taxa listed in A Catalog of the Mosquitoes of the World (Knight & Stone, 1977) and its supplements (Knight, 1978; Ward, 1984, 1992), and more recently described taxa placed within the broad traditional concept of genus Aedes.

The ranking of taxa as genera or subgenera is subjective, but essentially involves the criteria of monophyly and equivalent rank in a phylogenetic analysis. In the analyses of Reinert et al., taxa that were widely accepted as genera (i.e. Armigeres, Eretmapodites, Haemagogus, Heizmannia, Opifex, Psorophora, Udaya and Zeugnomyia) were taken as the reference clades for equivalence, monophyletic clades of equivalent rank to those taxa were afforded generic rank and monophyletic groups within those clades were afforded subgeneric rank. It is noted that intuitive interpretation is not without merit as the application of explicit methodology confirmed the monophyly of most subgenera and species groups that were diagnosed by unique combinations of characters. The principal problem, then, is not in recognising monophyletic groups, but in deciding which taxonomic ranks should be assigned to such taxa once their phylogenetic relationships are established. Bearing in mind that acceptance of broad genus-group concepts for convenience is phylogenetically insupportable, in cases where a taxon is found to be paraphyletic or polyphyletic it should be reclassified to ensure that taxonomic ranking reflects monophyly. On that basis, and because most taxonomists do not accept paraphyletic or polyphyletic classifications, Reinert et al. raised many of the subgenera and species groups of tribe Aedini to generic level. It should be noted that many of the taxa recognised as subgenera in the traditional classification of genus Aedes were originally described as genera.