An Annotated Checklist and Keys to the Mosquitoes of Samoa And
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298 An Annotated Checklistand Keys to the Mosquitoes of Samoaand Tonga’ Shivaji Ramalingam2 ABSTRACT. An historicalreview is given of the work done on the mosquitoesof Samoaand Tonga A total of 15 speciesbelonging to the generaAedes, Culex, Coquillettidia and Toxorhynchites is known to occur in the area, 13 speciesin Samoaand 8 in Tonga. Information for each speciesis provided with respectto the original description,stages described, biology and distribution. Where necessary,a taxonomic discussionis provided. Keys for the identification of adults, male genitalia, pupaeand larvae are provided. INTRODUCTION The islandsof Samoalie in the South Pacific between latitude 11O and 15OS. and longitude 168Oand 173OW. WesternSamoa consists of the two largeislands, Savaii and Upolu, with the two tiny islands,Manunu and Apolima, situatedin the narrow straitsbetween them. About 40 miles southeastis American Samoaconsisting of Tutuila, the Manua group, Rose and SwainsIslands. The islandsof the Kingdom of Tonga lie betweenlatitude 1So and 23O 30’ S. and longitude 173O and 177OW. There are about 150 islandsin the Kingdom, of which only 36 are inhabited, and the total land areais only 269 squaremiles. Three main groupsof islandsare recognizedfrom north to south, the Vavau, Haapai and Tongatabugroups. The southernmostgroup takesits name from the largestisland in the Kingdom, Tongatabu,on which is located Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga. HISTORICAL SAMOA. The earliestrecorded mosquito collection from Samoawas made in November 1904 when J. F. Floyd collectedAedes (S.) aegypti in Apia (Howard, Dyar and Knab, 19 17:840). In 1913 Gruenbergdescribed Aedes (F. 1 samoanus (as Finlaya samoana) from severalfemales collected by K. Friederichs,the Government Zoologist in Apia. Friederichssent additional material to Theobald (19 14) who describedCulex (C.4 Samoaensisfrom a singlefemale and reported Aedes 6.) aegypti (as Stegomyia fasciata), Aedes (5.’ ) polynesiensis (asStegomyia pseudoscutellaris), Culex (C.) quinque- fasciatus (as Culex fatigans) and Mansonia fijiensis (asMansonia, i.e., Taeniorhynchus sp.). O’Connor (1923) was the first investigatorto obtain fundamental information on the mos- quitoesof Samoa and to study their relation to the transmissionof filariasis. He recorded for the ’ This investigationwas carried out when the author was at the Department of Zoology, Uni- versityof California, Los Angelesand wassupported by Public Health Servicetraining grant TI-AI-132, directed by Dr. John F. Kesseland formed a portion of a dissertationsubmitted in partial satisfactionof the requirementsfor the degreeof Doctor of Philosophyin Zoology at the University of California. 2Department of Parasitology,Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mosquito Systemat<cs Vol. 8(3) 1976 299 first time Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans ’ (as Ochlerotatus vexans) and Culex (C.) annulirostris (as Culex jepsoni) and collected another female of Culex (C.) samoaensis, a speciesnot encountered in any subsequentsurvey. By meansof studieson natural and experimentalinfections on the common man-biting mosquitoesO ’Connor demonstratedAedes 6s.) polynesiensis (as Stegomyia pseudoscutellaris) to be the vector of subperiodicBancroftian filariasis in Samoa,confirming the earlierfindings of Bahr (19 12) in Fiji. Buxton and Hopkins (1927) made extensivestudies on the arthropodsof medical importance in Samoa,with particular emphasison the bionomicsof mosquitoes. To the speciesthat were al- ready known from Samoa,they added Culex (C.) sitiens. Most of their work wasdone on Upolu, and someon Savaii. During and after the SecondWorld War, much emphasiswas placed in Samoaon the study of filariasisand the mosquitoesthat transmitted this disease.Byrd, St. Amant and Bromberg(1945) dissectedover 5700 mosquitoesfrom Tutuila, American Samoa,and confirmed the findings of O’Connor. Bohart and Ingram (1946)ticluded the Samoanmosquitoes in their publication, “Mosquitoesof Okinawa and islandsin the Central Pacific.” They describedthe known species and summarizedtheir bionomics. Most of their Samoanmaterial was from the U.S. National Museum, collectedprimarily by K. L. Knight, W. G. Reddick, E. E. Boyd and P. S. Rossiter. Jachowskiand Otto (1952, 1953, 1954) carriedout studiesin American Samoaon the bionomicsof polynesiensis and on the density of infection and the sitesof transmissionof filariasis. Marks (1957) describeda new species,Aedes (S.) upolensis, from material sent to her from WesternSamoa by T. E. Woodward. Among this material was a singleadult of Mansonia fijiensis (reported asMansonia sp.). Laird, duringhis studieson “Mosquitoesand freshwaterecology ” (1956), made severalcollections in Samoaand studied the habitatsof the immature stages.M. 0. T. Iyengar ( 1955, 1960) made a few collectionsin Samoaand listed the species.He alsostudied the extent of transmissionof filariasisin WesternSamoa (1954). Peterson(1956) gavean account of the introduction of two speciesof Toxorhynchites into American Samoafor the purposeof controllingAedes polynesiensis. Finally Belkin (1962), in his comprehensivework “Mosquitoesof the South Pacific,” describedin great detail the stagesof the known mosquitoes(11 species)and analyzedthe relationshipsof the mosquitoesin the region. He recorded 13 speciesas occurringin Samoaincluding a new species, Aedes (F. ) oceanicus. TONGA. Only incidental collectionsof mosquitoeshave been made in Tonga in the past. The earliestwere made some time prior to 1926 by C. L. Edwards,S. M. Lambert and G. H. E. Hopkins. Aedes (S.) tongae (as variegatus var. tongue) wasdescribed from this material by F. W. Edwards(1926). In 1953 Laird ( 1956) collectedin Nuku’alofa and recordedCulex (C. 1 yuinque- fasciatus (as Culex pipiens jbtigans), Culex (C.) annulirostris, Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans (as vexans nocturnus) and Aedes (F.) oceanicus (as samoanus). Iyengar (1955, 1960) collected in Vavau and Nuku’alofa and listed 8 speciesfrom Tonga. The Medical Department of Tonga con- ducted a survey of the mosquitoesof Foa Island in the Haapaigroup (Halu and Haunga 1952) and listed speciesfrom Tonga, with severalquestionable identifications (1957). Finally Belkin (1962) describedin detail the 7 speciesthat were then known from Tonga up to the presenttime. Belkin (1962) believedthat, despiteearlier contributions,the mosquito fauna of both Samoa and Tonga was still poorly known. The author spent 6 months in Samoaand Tonga during 1963, studyingthe mosquito fauna of these areasand its relationshipto Bancroftianfilariasis. Partsof this study have been published(Ramalingam and Belkin, 1964, 1965; Ramalingam, 1966, 1968). Despitethe long delay, it is felt that the information obtained on the biology and distribution of eachspecies along with the keys would be useful to public health workersin the area. 300 MATERIAL Of the six months spent in the area, the months of February, March and July were spentin American Samoa; 1 April to 10 May in W. Samoaand 16 May to 29 June in Tonga. The islands visitedwere Tutuila,__. Upolu, Savaii,Tongatabu, Eua, Tofua, Matuku and Nomuka. Mosquitoes examined-fromthe Manua group and SwainsIsland were collected by Neal Spencer. A total of 368 collectionswas made for this study in Samoaand Tonga. Over 12,000 specimenswere pre- servedfor taxonomic studies,about equally divided between immature stagesarid adults and including485 individual rearingsfrom larvaeor pupae. Of the 12 speciesdefinitely known from the areaprior to this survey all were found except Culex (C) samoaensis and Mansonia fijiensis. In addition 2 new endemic specieswere found, Aedes (F.) tutuilae and Aedes LS.)’ tabu (Ramalingamand Belkin, 1965). A speciesof Toxorhynchites introducedinto American Samoawas recovered and wasshown to have been misidentified in the past. The previouslyundescribed larva and pupa of Aedes (F.) samoanus were also discoveredand rearedindividually. Considerableadditional data on the bionomicsof immature stages(breeding sites,association with other species)and adults (biting activity) were obtained for nearly every speciescollected. Table I summarizesthe current information on the distribution of all 15 speciesdefinitely known to occur in the Samoa-Tongaarea, basedon this surveyas well as on previousrecords. In the following paragraphsthe mosquito fauna of eachisland group is discussedbriefly. MOSQUITO FAUNA OF SAMOA The known mosquito fauna of Samoaconsists of 13 speciesbelonging to the 4 genera,Culex, Aedes, Coquillettidia and Toxorhynchites. The genusCulex is representedby 4 species,only one of which, samoaensis,is endemic. Culex samoaensisis an exceedinglyrare specieswhich has been collected only twice and is now known by only 2 specimens(Belkin 1962:2 12). Despitecareful searchfor this speciesin suitablesituations no specimensof samoaensis were found during this survey. Culex quinquefasciatus is undoubtedly an introducedspecies, having arrivedin the South Pacific during the period of exploration, probably as breedingpopulations on sailingvessels. It is extremely common in and around the larger settlements in American Samoa and WesternSamoa. The other 2 species,annulirostris and sitiens, are probably indigenousin Samoa as in many other islandsin the South Pacific. Of the 2, sitiens is much more common in Samoa. The record of Mansonia fijiensis from Samoawas based on a singlemale from Moata’a swampon Upolu examined by Belkin ( 1962309). Theobald (19 14:37) reported the presenceof a speciesof Mansonia found by Friederichson Upolu but this material hasnever been located.