The

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

mosquito genus ''Eretmapodites'' contains species that exhibit facultative cannibalism in their larval developmental stages.Thomas V. Gaffigan, Richard C. Wilkerson, James E. Pecor, Judith A. Stoffer and Thomas Anderson. 2016. "Genus ''Eretmapodites'' Theobald" in ''Systematic Catalog of Culicidae'', Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, http://www.wrbu.org/generapages/eretmapodites.htm, accessed 21 Feb 2016.G. H. E. Hopkins. Mosquitoes of the Ethiopian Region I.-Larval Bionomics of Mosquitoes and Taxonomy of Culicine Larvae, , accessed 21 Feb 2016. The species was first described in 1901 by Frederick Vincent Theobald.Theobald, F.V. 1901. Notes on a Collection of Mosquitoes from West Africa, and Descriptions of New Species. ''Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine─Memoir IV'', Appendix, p. ii; http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/131700-5.pdf . The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Eretmapodites quinquevittatus'' Theobald

Bionomics

''Eretmapodites'' larvae feed primarily on decaying organic matter, but become cannibalistic when other food becomes scarce, and sometimes even in the presence of abundant other food material. Larval breeding-places include small collections of water in larger fallen leaves, old tins and bottles, snail shells, plant axils, cut bamboo, and rarely tree holes. Some species seem to breed exclusively in plant axils; the majority are most frequently found in fallen leaves in forest habitat. They are strongly bottom-dwelling, so much so that when the water is poured out of a leaf containing them, most remain on the surface of the leaf until washed off; larvae of species collected in Uganda and Sierra Leone have been observed crawling over the surface of the leaf. When they become cannibalistic, they are predatory on other mosquito larvae, aquatic larvae of other small Diptera, and aquatic oligochaetes and

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

s. Smaller mosquito larvae are consumed whole, but larger ones have their internal contents sucked out, probably due to the difficulty of masticating their

chitin Chitin (carbon, C8hydrogen, H13oxygen, O5nitrogen, N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of N-Acetylglucosamine, ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cell ...

ous

exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the internal organs, in contrast to an internal endoskeleton (e.g. human skeleton, that ...

s. Predatory larvae also attack pupae, seizing them by the tail and keeping them under water until they drown. Killed pupae are not eaten immediately, but left intact until partly decomposed and then eaten. Predatory larvae have a thickened, comb-like modification of a group of the hairs on the medioventral aspect of the mouth brushes resembling those found in the predatory species '' Lutzia tigripes''. After seizing their prey, ''Eretmapodites'' larvae hold it between the half-flexed head and the ventral surface of the thorax and consume it rapidly, devouring a large larva in about 10 minutes.

Medical importance

''Eretmapodites'' species have been demonstrated to be laboratory vectors of yellow fever and chikungunya. Viruses isolated from wild-caught ''Eretmapodites'' include Rift Valley fever, Semliki forest, Spondweni, Nyando, Okola, Middleburg, Nkolbisson, and Bunyamwera viruses and an undefined viral agent, MTMP 131.

Species

Species listed by the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit:Thomas V. Gaffigan, Richard C. Wilkerson, James E. Pecor, Judith A. Stoffer and Thomas Anderson. 2016. "Genus ''Eretmapodites'' Theobald Species" in ''Systematic Catalog of Culicidae'', Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/taxon_descr.aspx?ID=27, accessed 21 Feb 2016. *'' Eretmapodites adami'' Ferrara and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites angolensis'' da Cunha Ramos and Ribeiro *'' Eretmapodites argyrurus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites brenguesi'' Rickenbach and Lombrici *'' Eretmapodites brottesi'' Rickenbach *'' Eretmapodites caillardi'' Rickenbach, Ferrara, and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites chrysogaster'' Graham *'' Eretmapodites corbeti'' Hamon *'' Eretmapodites dracaenae'' Edwards ( syn. '' Eretmapodites ferox'' Haddow) *'' Eretmapodites dundo'' da Cunha Ramos and Ribeiro *'' Eretmapodites eouzani'' Rickenbach and Lombrici *'' Eretmapodites ferrarai'' Rickenbach and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites forcipulatus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites germaini'' Rickenbach and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites gilletti'' van Someren *'' Eretmapodites grahami'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites grenieri'' Hamon and van Someren *'' Eretmapodites haddowi'' van Someren *'' Eretmapodites hamoni'' Grjebine *'' Eretmapodites harperi'' van Someren *'' Eretmapodites hightoni'' van Someren *'' Eretmapodites inornatus'' Newstead *'' Eretmapodites intermedius'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites jani'' Rickenbach and Lombrici *'' Eretmapodites lacani'' Rickenbach and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites leucopous'' Graham *'' Eretmapodites mahaffyi'' van Someren *'' Eretmapodites marcelleae'' Adam and Hamon *'' Eretmapodites mattinglyi'' Hamon and van Someren *'' Eretmapodites melanopous'' Graham *'' Eretmapodites mortiauxi'' Cunha Ramos and Ribeiro *'' Eretmapodites oedipodeios'' Graham ( syn. '' Eretmapodites stanleyi'' Edwards) *'' Eretmapodites parvipluma'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites pauliani'' Grjebine *'' Eretmapodites penicillatus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites plioleucus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites ssp. brevis'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites productus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites quinquevittatus'' Theobald ( syn. '' Eretmapodites austenii'' Theobald, '' Eretmapodites condei'' Ventrillon, '' Eretmapodites ravissei'' Rickenbach and Eouzan) *'' Eretmapodites rickenbachi'' Ferrara and Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites salauni'' Rickenbach, Ferrara & Eouzan *'' Eretmapodites semisimplicipes'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites silvestris'' Ingram & de Meillon ( subsp. '' Eretmapodites conchobius'' Edwards) *'' Eretmapodites subsimplicipes'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites tendeiroi'' da Cunha Ramos, Ribeiro and de Barros Machado *'' Eretmapodites tonsus'' Edwards *'' Eretmapodites vansomereni'' Hamon *'' Eretmapodites wansoni'' Edwards ( subsp. '' Eretmapodites douceti'' Adam and Hamon)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3056150 Aedini Mosquito genera Taxa named by Frederick Vincent Theobald