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Culex pervigilans Bergroth.
1889.Wiener entom. Zeitung, p. 295.
This, the commonest New Zealand species, is endemic and occurs throughout the country, but is most abundant near habitations. It is a nocturnal biter and hovers for a long time before biting, emitting a high, loud, singing note much louder than any other species. Its bite, however, is generally much less severe than that of other species.
It is distributed throughout New Zealand, and in Auckland breeds at all seasons, even during the short warm periods which occur during winter. It is almost unrestricted in its choice of breeding-place, in which it differs from all other New Zealand species. It breeds in practically every place in which water can collect and remain unevaporated for even a short time.
Adult females usually retreat to the shelter of buildings, especially of cellars or unfrequented darkened rooms, between May and August; nevertheless egg-laying adults have been found in the city and suburbs all through the winter.
The larvae of C. pervigilans are able to “carry over” during the winter in quite exposed situations, and have been observed actively swimming under ice, coming up to breathe at the air spaces which often form. In fact, the distribution of C. pervigilans in the Auckland district seems to be restricted more by higher temperatures than by lower, for as we go north it is increasingly replaced by Taeniorhynchus iracundus, being completely supplanted in pools with a temperature of over 70° F.
Culex fatigans Wiedermann.
1828. Aussereurop. Zweifl. Insekt., I, p. 10.
A species of world-wide distribution occurring in New Zealand only in and about Auckland City and Whangarei and therefore believed to be introduced. Bites at night and breeds through the year in any place exposed to full sunlight and holding water charged with decaying organic matter.
As with C. pervigilans, adults of C. fatigans have been found breeding and biting all through the winter, and the larvae have been observed to continue their development, even to pupating and emerging as adults in June. Curiously, however, adults could never be found in early spring (September and October) and it would seem that the months of July and August are cold enough to kill them off and that the species survives from year to year through the hibernating larvae.
Culex annulirostris Skuse.
1888. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2), iii, p. 1737.
An East Indian and Western Pacific species discovered (May, 1929) breeding in the hold of s.s. Tofua on arrival at Auckland from Suva, live larvae being subsequently discovered in a barrel on the waterfront. It is hoped that the destruction of this brood has prevented the establishment of the mosquito in New Zealand.
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Taeniorhynchus iracundus (Walker).
1848. List Diptera Brit. Mus. (1), 6.
An endemic species found only in Auckland Province in scrub and bush areas. It is a persistent night-biter and is especially-troublesome around farms, where it pesters the stock. Breeding has been observed from December to May, but hibernating females have been seen sheltering under fern and nikau leaves: the males probably die off after fertilizing the autumn brood of females.
It does not begin to lay eggs until the water is about 65° P. The eggs so laid, however, will continue to develop when the temperature drops to 60° F., but development is suspended below that. This species favours water of a higher temperature than the other New-Zealand species. At Spirits Bay larvae were abundant in pools in sunny sheltered creek-beds with a temperature of 85° F., and heavily charged with strong-smelling decaying vegetation. In summer these pools became too hot and putrid for the welfare of the “native trout” (Galaxias fasciatus), which died after endeavouring to escape by jumping out of the water.
Taeniorhynchus tenuipalpis Edwards.
1924. Bull. Ent. Research, 14, p. 366.
An endemic species confined to scrub and bush areas of the Auckland Province, where it annoys bush campers at night. Beyond two records of egg-laying, Waimauku (January) and Piha (May) no information is available as to its breeding.
Aedes notoscriptus Skuse.
1888. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2), 3, p. 1738.
An East Indian, West Pacific and Australian species, occurring-in New Zealand only around Auckland city, Nelson city, and Whangarei. On this account and because of its having been more than once taken alive on vessels on their arrival at Auckland from Sydney, this mosquito is believed to be a recent introduction. It is essentially a day-time biter. It breeds during the summer and only in the shade of trees or buildings, though hibernating adults may emerge and commence biting during a warm spell in the winter.
Gullies in Auckland, where all too frequently numbers of tins have accumulated among the scrub, are typical of its habitat. It has been found in shaded drains, catch-pits and waterholes, but it is usually restricted to leaf bases and holes in trees, and well-sheltered artificial containers on the ground.
It hibernates in both adult and larval stages, the former resting under tree-fern fronds from May to October, with occasional brief flights in any spell of unusually warm weather. Normally no adults emerge from the pupae from June to October, but some were once observed to emerge in September in exceptionally well sheltered warm situations in the Waitakere Hills, and once in the Grafton Gully in Auckland.
Aedes antipodeus (Edwards).
1924. Bull. Ent. Res., 10, p. 132.
An endemic species restricted to dense forest in Auckland Province. Adults are active throughout the year and bite at any time
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of the day or night. The eggs are apparently not laid in water, but are deposited on slime or mud. Females have been observed laying eggs on damp mud in winter. If rain falls on such mud, development at once commences and continues to the pupal stage even though the temperature of the water be no higher than 42° F. The whole development has been completed in three weeks in water at 52° F. Larvae have been raised from both damp and dried mud; and dry pools from around which adults have been absent for a considerable period have been observed to abound with larvae within 24 hours after a fall of rain. This habit of “carrying over” a dry spell in the egg stage enables it to meet the uncertainty of an irregular and intermittent rainfall.
The lower temperatures at which this species continues its development may be associated with its more southern distribution, and also with the greater elevation at which it usually occurs.
Aedes vexans Meigen.
1820. Syst. Beschr. Eur. Zweifl. Ins., vol. 6, p. 241.
An East Indian, Western Pacific and Australian coastal species. The only record of it in New Zealand is that of larvae found in a tin of water jammed among rocks just above high tide at Russell in July, 1929.
Rachionotomyia argyropus (Walker).
1848. List Dipt. Brit. Mus., 1, p. 2.
An endemic species recorded from Nelson, Wellington, Ohakune and Waitakere Hills. It seems definitely to be restricted to the native bush, but the tanks and barrels around bush cottages, in which alone it has been found breeding, can hardly be part of its native habitat, and its true native breeding place has yet to be discovered.
Apparently it breeds, and its larvae continue to develop, from November to May, the development being, however, suspended from June to October, when the adults also are completely quiescent, sheltering under the eaves of cottages, outhouses and sheds in the Waitakere Hills. Its larvae possess large anal gills plentifully supplied with tracheae which enable it to remain below the surface. This suggests that deeper pools or slow-moving streams may be the normal native breeding places. It is a night-biting species.
Opifex fuscus Hutton.
1902. Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 34, p. 188.
An endemic species restricted to rocky parts of the coast and breeding in semi-saline pools just above high water and frequently splashed by the spray. The larvae are able to remain below the surface for unusually long periods. A night-biting species.
Anopheles maculipennis Meigen.
1818. Syst. Beschr. Zweifl. Ins., vol. 1, p. 11.
Recorded here because a live female of this transmitter of malaria was taken at Auckland on a ship from the East Indies on May 27, 1929, and another on September 4, 1929, on a ship from Samarang.