Mosquitoes of Virginia

Named/provisional mosquito species, subspecies, & one hybrid

The following excerpt is from The Mosquitoes of the Mid-Atlantic Region: An Identification Guide by Bruce A. Harrison, Brian D. Byrd, Charles B. Sither, and Parker B. Witt (2016)

Virginia has a long history of published lists documenting mosquito species in the state (Dyar 1928, Dorer et al. 1944, Bickley 1957, Gladney and Turner 1969, Harrison et al. 2002). Currently this state has confirmed records for 56 named taxa, including one hybrid and one unidentified provisional species entry in the An. crucians complex. That entry, An. crucians s.l. is counted because we are unaware of any molecular attempts to analyze the species in this complex in Virginia, but specimens of this complex have been collected and identified in VA. We are changing the VA listing of Cx. quinquefasciatus to the hybrid, Cx. pipiens x Cx. quinquefasciatus, because the most northern confirmed record of Cx. quinquefasciatus along the Atlantic Coast is a site in the most southeastern county in North Carolina (Fonseca, unpublished). Actually we also consider most of the specimens of Cx. pipiens reported in Virginia to be Cx. pipiens x Cx. quinquefasciatus hybrids. However, since true Cx. pipiens may occur in extreme northern and northwestern VA, but need molecular confirmation, we have included Cx. pipiens in the list of nominal species in VA. The numbers reported here increase the number (55) reported in Harrison et al. (2002) to 56, because Cx. tarsalis was inadvertently left out of that list (David Gaines, personal communication).

Since the publication of this book, two more species have been found in the state of Virginia: Culex coronator (Akaratovic and Kiser 2017) and Culex nigripalpus (Akaratovic et al. 2021). This increases the number of species in the state to 58. The list below includes these two additions and links are provided to supporting literature in the state/surrounding areas, when available. If you know of other literature or have high resolution photographs of any of the following species and would like to see them added to the website, please email Website Chair, Karen Akaratovic (kakaratovic@suffolkva.us).

Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus); Lima et al. 2016; Gloria-Soria et al. 2018
Ae. albopictus (Skuse); Little et al. 2021; Chan et al. 2020; Armistead et al. 2008; Meeraus et al. 2008; Barker et al. 2003
Ae. atlanticus (Dyar and Knab)
Ae. atropalpus (Coquillett); Day et al. 2021
Ae. aurifer (Coquillett); Harrison et al. 2002
Ae. canadensis canadensis (Theobald)
Ae. cantator (Coquillett)
Ae. cinereus Meigen
Ae. dupreei (Coquillett)
Ae. fulvus pallens Ross
Ae. grossbecki Dyar and Knab
Ae. hendersoni (Cockerell)
Ae. infirmatus (Dyar and Knab)
Ae. japonicus japonicus (Theobald); Armistead et al. 2012; Armistead et al. 2008; Harrison et al. 2002
Ae. mitchellae (Dyar)
Ae. sollicitans (Walker)
Ae. sticticus (Meigen)
Ae. stimulans (Walker)
Ae. taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann)
Ae. thibaulti (Dyar and Knab)
Ae. tormentor (Dyar and Knab)
Ae. triseriatus (Say); Chan et al. 2020; Barker et al. 2003; Clark & Craig 1985
Ae. trivittatus (Coquillett)
Ae. vexans (Meigen)
Anopheles atropos Dyar and Knab
An. barberi Coquillett
An. bradleyi King
An. crucians s.l.
An. punctipennis (Say); Robert et al. 2005
An. quadrimaculatus Say; Robert et al. 2005
An. smaragdinus Reinert
An. walkeri Theobald
Coquillettidia perturbans (Walker)
Culex coronator Dyar and Knab; Akaratovic & Kiser 2017
Cx. erraticus (Dyar and Knab)
Cx. nigripalpus Theobald; Akaratovic et al. 2021
Cx. peccator Dyar and Knab
Cx. pipiens Linnaeus; Khalil et al. 2021
Cx. pipiens x Cx. quinquefasciatus hybrids
Cx. restuans Theobald; Jackson & Paulson 2006
Cx. salinarius Coquillett
Cx. tarsalis Coquillett; Williams et al. 2004
Cx. territans Walker; Reinhold et al. 2023
Culiseta inornata (Williston)
Cs. melanura (Coquillett); Molaei et al. 2015
Orthopodomyia alba Baker
Or. signifera (Coquillett)
Psorophora ciliata (Fabricius)
Ps. columbiae (Dyar Knab)
Ps. cyanescens (Coquillett)
Ps. discolor (Coquillett)
Ps. ferox (von Humboldt)
Ps. horrida (Dyar and Knab)
Ps. howardii (Coquillett)
Ps. mathesoni Belkin and Heinemann
Toxorhynchites rutilus septentrionalis (Dyar and Knab)
Uranotaenia sapphirina (Osten Sacken)
Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett); Harrison et al. 2002

The following is an excerpt from North Carolina Mosquito and Vector Control Association's (NCMVCA) Spring 2024 issue of The Biting Times in the article, "The Mid-Atlantic Key - unlocked and unrestricted" by Brian Byrd, PhD, MSPH

The key was created thanks to funding from Duke Energy. The funds were managed by the NCMVCA and were used to pay the graphic illustrator (Charlie Sither – now a PhD Candidate at NC State) while he was an undergraduate student at Western Carolina University. In addition, the grant funds were used to pay for the cost of the first printing of the key. Other than the student illustrator, the authors received no payment for the key. The NCMVCA has sold keys since 2016 and during this time all the proceeds went to the NCMVCA in part to fund a “Bruce Harrison Research Fund” that was created to support students conducting mosquito taxonomy work. In November of 2023, the last of the printed “Mid-Atlantic keys” were finally sold. So, if you currently own the key, you are in good shape. If you don’t have the key, what should you do? Your main option is to use a PDF version. This PDF is a free download and can be accessed here: http://tinyurl.com/MidAtlaMosKey [You can also click the photo on the right.]

For more interesting features of and details about the key, read the full article on NCMVCA's website: https://www.ncmvca.org/news

Mosquitoes of Virginia

Named/provisional mosquito species, subspecies, & one hybrid

Cookie Policy