Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory

Most of the conventional pupal stage is an adult, not a pupa, enclosed by the remains of the pupal cuticle. For this reason, the various structures of the cephalothorax bear the same names as the corresponding structures in the developing adult. Only those structures that are unique to the pupa have special names.

The trumpets are unique appendages of the pupa. Each trumpet has a tubular part, the meatus, and an open part, the pinna. In anophelines, the trumpets are generally short, truncate apically and have a rather large opening with a prominent split on one side. The trumpets of culicines are usually elongate or broadly conical and generally lack a split. The meatus sometimes has a proximal tracheoid area and a distal reticulate area, or it may be entirely reticulate. The ratio of the trumpet length to the trumpet width, called the trumpet index, has some taxonomic value.

Thirteen pairs of setae occur on the cephalothorax, three on the lateralia of the head (1-3), four on the prothorax (4-7), two on the mesothorax (8 and 9) and usually three, sometimes four, on the metathorax (10-13). Setae on this area are identified with the suffix CT.