insects Article The Taxonomic History of Ochlerotatus Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891 (Diptera: Culicidae) Lílian Ferreira de Freitas * and Lyric C. Bartholomay Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Simple Summary: Mosquitoes are an extremely diverse group of aquatic insects, distributed over all continents except Antarctica. The mosquitoes belonging to the subgenus called Ochlerotatus, as understood by Reinert et al., comprise a group of several species which are endemic to the Americas, some of which are important vectors of human and animal pathogens. However, this group is characteristically undefined, i.e., no sets of characters define the group, and this presents a major challenge for the understanding of the evolutionary tree of the mosquitoes. This work underscores and contextualizes the complex taxonomic history of the group, reveals the major challenges we face in order to resolve the definition of this group, and presents a path forward for its successful revision. Abstract: A review of all taxonomic actions within the subgenus Ochlerotatus Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891 (Diptera: Culicidae) sensu Reinert et al. (2008) is provided. In particular, the complex historical taxo- nomic treatment of the type species of this group is dissected and explained in detail. Additionally, current challenges with the definition of the subgenus and its constituents are discussed, as are the requisite steps for a successful revision of the taxon. Going forward, we conclude that a taxonomic Citation: Ferreira de Freitas, L.; revision of the species should include a neotype designation for Ochlerotatus scapularis (Rondani, Bartholomay, L.C.