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Genus CATATASSOMYIA Dyar & Shannon, 1925

Edited by Ralph Harbach on Sat, 07/30/2011 - 00:08
Name-Bearing Type: 

Catatassomyia meronephada Dyar & Shannon, 1925.

Classification: 

Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Aedini. Catatassomyia is monobasic.

Distribution: 

Philippines (Leyte, Luzon, Samar, Negroes). 

Phylogeny: 

Dyar & Shannon (1925) introduced Catatassomyia as a new monobasic genus for meronephada, which they also recognised as new. Edwards (1929) placed Catatassomyia in synonymy with Stegomyia (as a subgenus of Aedes), where it remained until Huang (1978) transferred it to Diceromyia (as a subgenus of Aedes). The results of the phylogenetic study of Reinert et al. (2009) indicated that meronephada is not closely related to either Diceromyia or Stegomyia. Consequently, the authors reinstated Catatassomyia as a genus based on a unique combination of 28 morphological characters and other distinguishing features not included in their analysis. The 28 characters are indicated by superscripts in list of Characteristics below. The cladistic analyses of Reinert et al. (2009) indicate that Catatassomyia shares affinities with Scutomyia and Bothaella, as recovered in the clade Scutomyia + (Catatassomyia + Bothaella). 

Characteristics: 

ADULTS – Eyes rather widely separated, silvery scales between, 1interocular setae absent; vertex with flat scales only, erect scales restricted to occiput; maxillary palpus of both sexes with 5 palpomeres, palpomere 5 much shorter than palpomere 4 in males; acrostichal setae absent; paratergite with broad silvery scales; scales of scutellum all broad; postpronotum bare; proepisternum with scales; lower mesepimeral setae absent; base of hindcoxa distinctly below upper margin of mesomeron; 2remigium of wing without dorsal setae; 3hindfemur without pale scales at apex; 4hindtibia dark with pale-scaled areas; 5sternum VIII of females without scales. FEMALE GENITALIA ‒ 6Upper vaginal sclerite absent; 3 spermathecal capsules. MALE GENITALIA ‒ Gonostylus short, greatly expanded apically, with 7horn-like projection on distal part of lateral surface. LARVAE ‒ Seta 4-C well developed, inserted caudomesad of seta 6-C; 8seta 5-C short, 0.21−0.38 length of dorsal apotome; 9seta 6-C branched; 10seta 7-C inserted anterior to seta 5-C; 11seta 1-M ≥ 3.5 length of seta 2-M; 12-18setae 4-M, 2-T, 3-I,II, 10-VII, 12-VII and 3-X branched; setae 9‒12M,T on very large tubercle; 19seta 7-I < 0.45 length of seta 6-I; seta 5-I‒VI displaced anteriorly; 20seta 3-VIII simple; comb scales in 2 or 3 irregular rows borne on 21comb plate; 22seta 1-S single; 23seta 2-X ≥ 0.90 length of seta 3-X; ventral brush (seta 4-X) comprised of 6 pairs of setae with long basal stems borne on a boss. PUPAE ‒ Seta 1-II weak, double, removed from midline; seta 1-III‒VII strongly displaced laterad; 24,25seta 6-I,II as long or slightly shorter than seta 7-I,II; 26seta 6-III branched; 27seta 6-VII as long or slightly shorter than seta 9-VII ; 28paddle with fringe of hair-like spicules. 

Bionomics: 

Larvae of Ct. meronephada have been found in the axils of various plants, mainly different types of banana in jungle. Females were found resting at the base of trees in wet jungle. Females are known to enter houses and bite humans outdoors during the daytime (Knight & Hull, 1952; Baisas et al., 1962; Mattingly, 1965). 

Medical and Economic Importance: 

Catatassomyia meronephada is a potential vector of filariasis as it has been found with non-infective microfilaria larvae (Baisas et al., 1962). 

Important References: 

Reinert, 1973 (as species of Aedes subgenus Stegomyia, taxonomy); (Mattingly, 1965 (as species of Aedes subgenus Stegomyia, taxonomy); Huang, 1978 (as species of Aedes subgenus Diceromyia, taxonomy); Reinert et al., 2009 (generic status, phylogeny). 

Included Taxa: 

meronephada Dyar & Shannon, 1925 

Scratchpads developed and conceived by: Vince Smith, Simon Rycroft, Dave Roberts, Ben Scott...