Morphological and Genetic Characterization of the Aedes (Ochlerotatus) communis Complex (Diptera: Culicidae) in North America

Abstract

Morphometric comparisons were made of seven populations and electro-phoretic comparisons of nine populations of the Aedes communis complex in North Amer-ica. Of 27 loci surveyed, 3-10 diagnostic loci were found to separate three species of this complex: A. communis sens, str., Aedes churchillensis, and Aedes nevadensis. A Lake Tahoe, Calif., collection showed unusually low genetic variability (<5%) and was significantly different from the other three species at 6 of 19 loci. Mean measurements of six larval and five adult morphological characters of the Lake Tahoe population also differed significantly from A. communis s.s. Originally this population was described by Dyar (1916) as Aedes tahoensis, but he later synonymized it under A. communis DeGeer. We resurrect A. tahoensis Dyar as a valid species based on genetic and morphological differences with A. communis s.s. Colorado populations of A. communis were electrophoreti-cally indistinguishable from A. communis s.s.-although with reduced genetic variability whereas morphological analyses placed the Colorado A. communis intermediate between A. tahoensis and A. communis s.s. Morphological and electrophoretic keys were constructed to separate the four species of the A. communis complex.