POPULATION STRUCTURE IN CULEX PIPIENS COMPLEX OF MOSQUITOS

  • 1 January 1967
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 37  (2) , 271-+
Abstract
Mosquitos of the C. pipiens complex offer unique opportunities for study of the mechanisms that separate populations and of the possible advantages of the blood-feeding habit. C. pipiens is a polytypic species in which there are at least 3 major adaptions to environment. The tropical quinquefasciatus (fatigans) is a generalized blood-feeder dependent on the year -round availability of a variety of hosts. The obligate blood-feeding pipiens form of the temperate zone appears to be adapted to feeding upon nesting birds. The autogenous molestus form is essentially non-blood-feeding. Additional variants are present in different parts of the world. The variety of devices that serve to separate these different populations pose difficult problems for the taxonomist.