Livestock Management Insect Pests Sept. 2003, LM-10.2
Southern House Mosquito Michael W. DuPonte1 and Linda Burnham Larish2 1CTAHR Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, 2Hawaii Department of Health
Culex quinquefasciatus Say Origin Entered Hawaii at the port of Lahaina, Maui, between 1826 and 1830. Range Found on all of the major Hawaiian Islands. Prefers to breed in dirty water and ranges from sea level Male to about 2000 ft elevation. Female Public health concern Bites people at night; a potential vector of West Nile virus, Japanese B-type encephalitis, and filariasis. Livestock concern This mosquito is a vector of heartworm in dogs, fowl pox in chickens, avian malaria in native Hawaiian birds, equine encephalitis in horses, and West Nile Egg mass Larvae in water virus in horses and birds. Control Hosts Eliminate or empty containers were mosquitoes breed. Takes blood meals from man, birds, and animals in or Change water in troughs and water dishes regularly. der to complete its life cycle. In permanent water sites, apply a product containing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis to control mosquito Description 3 breeding. Adult less than ⁄16 inch long. Protect your animals against mosquito borne diseases Adults are brown with narrow cross bands on the abdo by administering treatments prescribed by a veteri men; they have no white bands on the legs and their narian. abdomen is blunt at the tip. Larvae are recognized by their long breathing tubes and References whip-like tail movements when disturbed. Hardy, D. Elmo. 1981. Insects of Hawaii, v. 10 Diptera: Nematocera- Life cycle Brachycera. Univ. Hawaii Press, Honolulu. pp. 18–19, 90–91. Williams, Ralph E., et al. (eds.). 1985. Livestock entomology. John Growth stages: egg, larvae, and pupal stages in the wa Wiley & Sons. pp. 293, 301–302. ter; adult stage flies. Hawaii Dept. of Health. 1991. Vector control training manual; mos Up to 400 eggs laid in rafts of that float on the surface. quitoes. Eggs hatch in 1–2 days; the larval and pupal stages take U.S. Centers for Disease Control. West Nile virus—entomology. 8–10 days to complete. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/mosquitoSpecies.htm. Photos from www.arbovirus.health.nsw.gov.au, Dept. of Medical Adults live from two weeks to two months. Entomology, New South Wales Dept. of Health, used with per mission.
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