Aedes australis is a brackish water mosquito species[2] from the subgenus Halaedes. It is native to Australia. It was first found in New Zealand in 1961[3] and is now present in the southern half of the South Island.

Aedes australis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Culicidae
Genus: Aedes
Subgenus: Halaede
Species:
A. australis
Binomial name
Aedes australis

Habit and habitat

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The species breeds in littoral rock and brackish pools just above the tide line[4] and remains close to their breeding habitats.[3][5] Additionally, most adult females have been known and tested to be autogenous which allows females to lay their first batch of eggs before taking or ingesting a blood meal. Their autogenous capacities can however be greatly altered by the conditions that surround them in their environment, such as temperature. The percentage of autogenous females from the same breeding pool can vary from 40% in the summer to 85% in the winter due to temperature swings and slower development. There are anautogenous populations of Aedes australis in Tasmania and South Australia, meaning those mosquitoes have to consume blood to reproduce. Ae. australis are almost exclusively anautogenous in eastern New Zealand. In addition, humans are the most common source of blood for A. australis in those regions.[6]

The eggs of this species are rhomboidal in both ventral and dorsal view.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Aedes australis (Erichson)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  2. ^ Gardner, JM; Pillai, JS (1987). "Tolypocladium cylindrosporum (Deuteromycotina: Moniliales), a fungal pathogen of the mosquito Aedes australis. III. Field trials against two mosquito species". Mycopathologia. 97 (2): 83–8. doi:10.1007/bf00436842. PMID 3574434.
  3. ^ a b "Aedes(Halaedes) australis(Erichson)" (PDF). New Zealand Biosecure Entomology laboratory, A division of Southern Monitoring Services Ltd. 31 Aug 2007.
  4. ^ "Mosquitoes of Australia". Department of Medical Entomology, Australia.
  5. ^ a b Linley; R., J; Geary, M.J; Russell, R.C (1992). "The eggs of Aedes australis and Aedes camptorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae)". Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. 24 (1).
  6. ^ Brust, Reinhart A. (1997). "Ecology of the Aedes australis (Erichson) 1842 Complex (Diptera: Culicidae) in Australia and New Zealand". Australian Journal of Entomology. 36 (3): 287–292. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.1997.tb01471.x. ISSN 1440-6055.

Further reading

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