Check List 10(6): 1342–1358, 2014 © 2014 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.biotaxa.org/cl) Journal of species lists and distribution PECIES S (Diptera: Culicidae) OF Faunal richness and the checklist of Indian mosquitoes 1 2 2 1 2 1 ISTS D. R. Bhattacharyya , A. R. Rajavel , R. Natarajan , P. K. Mohapatra , P. Jambulingam , J. Mahanta L and A. Prakash 1, 3* 1 Regional Medical Research Centre, NE (Indian Council of Medical Research), Post Box No. 105, Dibrugarh – 786 001, Assam, India. 3 National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (Indian Council of Medical Research), Kamla Nehru Hospital Building, Bhopal – 462 001, 2 MadhyaVector Control Pradesh, Research India. Centre (Indian Council of Medical Research), Indiranagar, Puducherry – 605 006, Tamilnadu, India. * Corresponding Author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: A review of published studies revealed that the Indian mosquito fauna comprises 393 species in number49 genera of and species 41 subgenera. (176 species The in subfamily 33 genera Anophelinae and two groups contains of incertae 61 species sedis in; onei.e., “genusAedes ”followed sensu auctorum by Culicinae and with“Ochlerotatus 332 species” sensu in auctorum11 tribes). andWith 48 the genera. recent taxonomicThe tribe changesAedini (subfamily in tribe Aedini, Culicinae) the Indian contains mosquito the highest genera Aedini are discussed. A total of 31 species are currently recognized in India for transmitting various mosquito- bornehave gone agents up offrom human 22 todiseases. 49. Changes A checklist to the for Indian the IndianAedini mosquitofauna subsequent species is to presented the reclassification and the need of tribefor a comprehensive study is emphasized. 10.15560/10.6.1342 DOI: Introduction numbers, since the 1980s some faunistic surveys carried Mosquitoes, belonging to family Culicidae and order out in various parts of India detected many species which Diptera, are a large group of insects present throughout are new additions to the mosquito fauna of India. It seems the temperate and tropical regions and even beyond the that some of these records did not reach the mosquito catalog. As such, an up-to-date check list of mosquitoes of Region, which includes India, is regarded as one of the India is still not available, and the actual number of species richestArctic Circle biogeographic of the world regions (Harbach for mosquitoes 2007). Theof the Oriental world, present in India, has to be approximated. Moreover, with along with the Neotropics (Gaston and Hudson 1994). the advancement of molecular biology, many researchers At present, a total of 3,540 recognized mosquito species, from non-entomology backgrounds are now working with divided between two subfamilies and 112 genera, are mosquitoes, and there is confusion about the informal taxonomic series, groups and subgroups to which mosquito fold increase of the present numbers can be foreseen with species belong. Confusion seems to have increased after morerecorded discoveries in the world and naming(Harbach of 2014).sibling Aspecies three tomainly five- in Anopheles, as a result of application of DNA-based (Reinert et al. 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009) as journals are the changes made to the classification of tribe Aedini mosquito biodiversity after Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and tribe Aedini brought major changes raising the number methods (Harbachet al2007).. 2007). India After is theranked monumental fifth in terms works of ofusing genera two insystems this tribe of classification. from 11 to 81 Reclassification along with changes of the of Christophers (1933) and Barraud (1934), not many to the spelling of names of some species in accordance comprehensiveThailand (Foley biosystematics studies of Indian Culicidae with provisions of the International Code of Zoological have been undertaken. Since that time, many changes have Nomenclature. Hence, a checklist seems essential for taken place in the mosquito taxonomic literature. However, the entomologists and public health personnel working in the absence of any up-to-date monograph on Indian Culicidae, entomologists in India are still compelled to use familiarity with the new names. Considering this, an up- these two books. In this context, as mentioned by Reuben to-datein India check to reflect list of changesthe mosquito to nomenclature species of India to basedpromote on et al. (1993), it needs to be emphasized that publications of the Southeast Asian Mosquito Project are very useful the mosquito fauna of India and need for future work are alsothe current discussed. classification is provided. The present status of (1972) rightly proposed for a systematic study of Indian Culicidaefor the identification because of increasing of Indian mosquito-bornemosquito species. diseases, Berlin Materials and Methods changing ecology and advances in mosquito systematics. Information was collected from two online resource databases, namely systematic catalog of Culicidae and et al. 2014). Although fewer in mosquito taxonomic inventory and published materials The online systematic catalog of Culicidae listed 356 species in India (Gaffigan 1342 Bhattacharyya et al. | Mosquito biodiversity of India mainly since the 1980s (Bhattacharyya et al. 2000, 2002, prevalent and An. nigerrimus as rather uncommon species 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009; Khan et al. (Khan et al et al. 1987). Immature surveys 1998; Rajavel and Natarajan 2006, 2011; Rajavel et al. carried out in upper Brahmaputra valley detected An. 1998, 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2005d, 2011; Rajput crawfordi, An.. 1998; paraliae Tewari, An. peditaeniatus and An. sinensis and Singh 1987a, 1987b, 1987c, 1989, 1990; Reuben et of Hyrcanus Group from the north-east India, but did not al et al collect any specimen of An. nigerrimus (Khan et al. 1998). An. paraliae in these surveys information. 1993; Tewari on country . 1987;occurrence Tewari records and Hiriyan of mosquito 1991, were collected as immatures from a forest fringe area of 1992, 1995). The systematic catalog of Culicidae provides Assam.A few specimens Earlier considered identified as as a subspecies of An. lesteri, An. paraliae was later elevated to species status by Harrison et species. The mosquito Anophelestaxonomic, Culexinventory, Verrallina contains and al. (1990), but more recently it has been synonymyzed with up-to-dateUranotaenia information are available on worldin the Culicidae. website ofThe mosquito internal lesteri et al. (2013), hence it is listed as lesteri here. classificationtaxonomic inventory, of genera which is followed here for the However, distribution of this species is restricted to low Indian mosquito fauna belonging to these genera. Recent elevation by Taaicoastal areas of Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and abbreviations of generic and subgeneric names provided An. pursati. Hence, record of this generic and species names is provided in the check list speciesThailand in (Harrison India needs and further Scanlon investigation, 1975). This speciesincorporating is also (Appendixby Reinert 1).(2009a) are followed here. The authorship of easily misidentified with of r-DNA was used to differentiate member species of An. Results and Discussion hyrcanusDNA-based group analysis (Ma similaret al. 1998, to China, 2000a, where, 2000b). ITS2 Recently, marker Records indicate that the Indian mosquito fauna includes 393 species divided among 49 genera and 41 subgenera. An. crawfordi, An. peditaeniatus Subfamily Anophelinae contains 61 species in one genus ITS2and An. sequencing sinensis in of the some north-east specimens India of (Regional Hyrcanus Medical Group followed by subfamily Culicinae with 332 species in 11 confirmedResearch Centre, the presence Dibrugarh, of Assam, India; unpublished data). Similarly Barbirostris Group which includes 11 contains the highest number of species (176 species in species globally also has uncertain distribution records 33tribes genera and 48and genera. two groups Tribe Aediniof incertae of subfamily sedis, i.e., Culicinae “Aedes” for most of the species, particularly in Indonesia and sensu auctorum, “Ochlerotatus” sensu auctorum Appendix 1. In India, 31 species are currently recognized) (Table wereIndian recognized sub-region, in this mainly group frombecause India. of An. identificationhodgkini was for1). transmittingThe check list various of the mosquito-borne Indian Culicidae pathogens; is presented these as detecteddifficulties from (Harrison Assam duringand Scanlon larval collections 1975). Four (Khan species et al. 1998). Subfamily Anophelinae: Subfamily Anophelinae has Subgenus Cellia containing 35 species encompasses all are listed in Table 2. important vectors of human malaria in India. Recently, two Anopheles, with 61 formally named species divided between new species have been described from this subgenus from subgenerathree genera Anopheles globally. Indianand Cellia species. However, are confined the number to genus of India. An. pseudosundaicus belonging to Pyretophorus species will increase with the naming or recognition of synonymous names of sibling species in several groups et al. 2009). Another species belonging to Maculatus or complexes. In India, subgenus Anopheles contains 26 GroupSeries wasof the described Neocellia from Series coastal named areas as An.of Kerelakrishnai (Tyagi was species. In this subgenus, the assemblage of species in described (Sathe and Jagtap 2012). However, Harbach two most important groups (Hyrcanus and Barbirostris (2014) noted the lack of credible evidence