Identification and
Geographical Distribution of the Mosquitoes of North America, North
of Mexico
R. F. Darsie and R. A. Ward, eds.
University of Florida Press, Gainesville, FL, 2005
383 pp. $75.00 (hardback)
ISBN 0-8130-274-5
Although much of this edition is a verbatim rehash of the first
edition (1980), some very important changes have been made to Darsie
and Ward's book that make it a valuable resource. This book is the
only book that incorporates many of the recent changes in
nomenclature, new species listings, and updates of geographic
distributions of North American mosquitoes. Twelve species have been
added to the book since the first edition. Changes to the text were
necessary because of new species (e.g. Aedes albopictus and
Ochlerotatus japonicus japonicus) invading different parts of
North America (Sprenger and Wuithiranyagool
1986, Peyton et al. 1999),
new species being defined (e.g., the detection and naming of the
sibling species of Anopheles quadrimaculatus) (Reinert
et al 1997), and reinstating the subgenus Ochlerotatus
to genus status (Reinert 2000).
Other significant changes are revised and completely illustrated
keys for the adult females and fourth instars, new user friendly
geographical distribution maps for each species, and an updated
systematic index table (Table 1), which includes the new species in
North America.
This book is the collective product of two very competent
scientists. Each has an excellent publication record and reputation
in the field of mosquito systematics. The junior author is a retired
medical entomologist from the Walter Reed Army Institute of
research, Washington, DC. He is also a former editor of the Journal
of the American Mosquito Control Association. The senior author
remains active as a research entomologist at the Florida Medical
Entomology Laboratory (FMEL), Vero Beach, FL. In addition to his
active systematics research, he continues to teach classes in
mosquito identification at FMEL and at the annual Dodd Short Courses
sponsored by the Florida Mosquito Control Association. Mosquito
control professionals from all over the country regularly enroll in
these classes. This book serves as a cornerstone in those
identification courses. In a recent article in the St. Petersburg
Times, Jeff Klinkenberg stated that, "What the late Roger Tory
Peterson was to birds, the imperial Richard F. Darsie, Jr., Ph.D.,
is to mosquitoes."
The book is organized into 16 sections and starts with a fairly
comprehensive Table of Contents, which makes finding information on
the included taxa easy. Next, the authors include the preface from
the first edition, which is appropriate because much of the
information presented is relevant to the second edition. This
preface is followed by a brief preface to the second edition, which
mainly acknowledges the support (financial, graphic, and office and
laboratory space) that the authors received to complete this book.
Next is a one-page section on the Abbreviations of the states in the
United States of America and the Provinces of Canada. This section
is followed by a very brief introduction, with the main changes from
the first edition being an emphasis on the use of Taxonomists'
Glossary of Mosquito Anatomy (Harbach and
Knight 1980) for morphological terms, and the fact that at
the time of their revising the text there were 174 known species and
subspecies in 14 genera and 29 subgenera in the geographic region.
This introduction is followed by the systematics section, which was
interesting because it discusses the most important taxonomic
changes made since the last edition. It includes lists and
discussions of new species, species resurrected from synonymy, and
exotic species introduced into the United States and Canada. It also
provides the reader with a better understanding of the authors'
positions on the included taxa. Next are sections on the morphology
of adult females and fourth instars, which are followed by generic
keys to the adult females and fourth instars. Immediately after
these generic keys are keys to the species of each genus. All
characters used in the keys are illustrated by well done, original
drawings (1,045) inserted between key couplets. Keys are included
for the identification of all 174 mosquito species and subspecies
known to occur in North America, north of Mexico. As expected, these
keys make up nearly half the book.
The sections on adult and larval morphology discuss the anatomical
structures mentioned in the keys. Other than moving the selected
bibliography of mosquito morphology to the back of the book, the
adult morphology section is basically unchanged from the first
edition. The larval morphology section has at least one confusing
change of note. In describing the setae of segment X, in the first
edition the authors' state that the most posterior seta is
designated as 4a-X; then proceeding anteriorly, they are 4b-, 4c-,
4d-X, etc. In the second edition, referring to the same figure they
seemingly state just the opposite, i.e., that the most anterior seta
is designated designated as 4a-X; proceeding posteriorly the setae
are then 4b-, 4c-, 4d-X, etc. At best this is confusing; at worst a
contradiction. Another apparent contradiction between the first and
second editions for larval morphology is the number of pairs of
setae on abdominal segments I-VII (97 versus 86). Both the adult and
larval morphology discussions are followed by a series of very
useful full-age plates illustrating key morphological characters.
Next is a section on the geographical distribution of the Culicidae
of the United States and Canada. This information is provided in
text, tabular, and figure form. The second edition includes a vastly
improved 134 mosquito species distribution maps compared with 41 in
the first edition. Instead of having overlapping distributions of
multiple species on each map that were hard to distinguish, this
edition has a separate map for most important species.
The next section is the selected bibliography of mosquito morphology
that contains important references to understand mosquito
morphological terminology. This section is followed by the greatly
expanded section on the bibliography of mosquito taxonomy and
geographical distribution (815 versus 536 references) over the first
edition. Next is an appendix that contains the locality data for the
mosquito specimens used to prepare the illustrations for the keys.
Then, there is a very useful index to scientific names, which
provides an easy way to find information on specific taxa. This
index also provides useful information (in bold) to locate the
appropriate geographic distribution map for each species.
This book does contain a number of technical errors. Recently, an
errata sheet, containing approximately 40 errors, was posted on the
FMEL Web site under "Downloads" on the opening page at
http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/errata.htm.
Who should buy this book? When asked this question in that recent
newspaper interview with Jeff Klinkenberg, Dr. Darsie responded,
"Every mosquito control district in the United States should have
this book, every agency that has any dealings with mosquitoes, and
every university library that has an entomology department should
have this book." I agree. It is a valuable resource for anyone
interested in learning about the basics of mosquito morphology and
identification, this includes mosquito control personnel, beginning
and advanced students, and professional medical entomologists. As
stated above, it is the only comprehensive, relatively up to date
book on the identification and geographic distribution of mosquitoes
in North America, north of Mexico.
References
Harbach R. E, Knight K. L. Taxonomists' glossary of mosquito
anatomy. Marlton, NJ, Plexus Publishing, 1980.
Peyton E. L, Campbell S. R, Candelletti T. M, Romanowski M, Crans W.
J. Aedes (Finlaya) japonicus japonicus (Theobald), a new
introduction into the United States. J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc.
1999, 15:238-241.
Reinert J. F. New classification for the composite genus Aedes
(Diptera: Culicidae: Aedini), elevation of subgenus Ochlerotatus to
generic rank, reclassification of other subgenera, and notes on
certain subgenera and species. J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc. 2000,
16:175-188.
Reinert J. F, Kaiser P. E, Seawright J. A. Analysis of the Anopheles
quadrimaculatus complex of sibling species (Diptera: Culicidae)
using morphological, cytological, molecular, genetic, biochemical,
and ecological techniques in an integrated approach. J. Am. Mosq.
Control Assoc. 1997(1998), 13:1-102.
Sprenger D, Wuithiranyagool T. The discovery and distribution of
Aedes albopictus in Harris County, Texas. J. Am. Mosq. Control
Assoc. 1986, 2:217-219.
Daniel L. Kline
USDA-ARS-CMAVE
1600 SW 23rd Dr
Gainesville, FL 32608
E-mail: dkline@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu
Journal of Medical Entomology
Vol. 43, No. 1, January 2006, Page 124-125
