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Genus LUTZIA Theobald, 1903

Edited by Ralph Harbach on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 21:46
Name-Bearing Type: 

Lutzia bigoti (Bellardi, 1862).

Classification: 

Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Culicini. Lutzia includes eight species divided between three subgenera: Insulalutzia (1 species ), Lutzia (2 species) and Metalutzia (5 species).

Distribution: 

Genus Lutzia includes two species in the Neotropical Region (subgenus Lutzia), four in Asia and the Australasian Region (subgenus Metalutzia), one in the Afrotropical Region (subgenus Metalutzia) and one in the Ogasawara Islands of Japan (subgenus Insulalutzia).

Phylogeny: 

Belkin (1962) suggested that Lutzia is an ancient group allied with the nominotypical subgenus of genus Culex. Miller et al. (1996) showed that Lutzia shares an ancestry with subgenus Culex based on sequence divergence in the ITS1 and ITS2 regions of rDNA. Likewise, the cladistic analysis of larval mouthparts conducted by Navarro & Liria (2000) indicated that Lutzia and Culex formed distinct monophyletic clades, with Lutzia being the more primitive of the two. Phylogenetic relationships within genus Lutzia have not been investigated.

Characteristics: 

Lutzia are large mosquitoes. The adults have four or more lower mesepimeral setae (distinction from other Culicini). The anterior surfaces of fore- and midfemora have numerous patches of light-coloured scales, the pulvilli are large and the radiomedial crossvein is close to the base of vein M3+4. Lutzia larvae are distinguished from other genera by the following characters: mouthparts modified for predation, lateral palatal brushes with about 40 stout and strongly pectinate filaments; siphon short, with pecten extending to apex; saddle complete, longer than siphon, dorsal surface much longer than ventral surface. Pupae have all or most of setae 1-9-CT single and seta 9-VIII inserted distinctly cephalad of caudolateral angle of tergum, about 0.7 from base of tergum. See Culicini.

Bionomics: 

The immature stages of Lutzia occur in a wide variety of ground-water habitats, but are sometimes found in tree holes. Several species are commonly found in artificial containers, and appear to tolerate or prefer water with a high organic content. The larvae of all species are predaceous. They mainly feed on other mosquito larvae, but also on other insects. Females attack domestic animals and sometimes humans, but otherwise very little is known of the bionomics of the adults.

Medical and Economic Importance: 

None of the species of Lutzia are of medical or economic importance.

Important References: 

Edwards, 1941 (adults, Afrotropical Region); Hopkins, 1952 (larvae, Afrotropical Region); Belkin, 1962 (taxonomy, South Pacific); Bram, 1967 (Thailand); Tanaka et al., 1979 (Japan), Tanaka, 2003; Rattanarithikul et al., 2005 (Thailand).

Included Taxa: 
Subgenus INSULALUTZIA Tanaka, 2003
   shinonagai (Tanaka, Mizusawa & Saugstad, 1979)
Subgenus LUTZIA Theobald, 1903
   allostigma Howard, Dyar & Knab, 1915
   bigoti (Bellardi, 1862)
Subgenus METALUTZIA Tanaka, 200
   agranensis Singh & Prakash, 2008
   fuscana (Wiedemann, 1820)
   halifaxii (Theobald, 1903)
   tigripes (de Grandpre & de Charmoy, 1901)
   vorax Edwards, 1921
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