The using of morphometric indices in the identification of mosquito larvae of the genus Aedes Meigen, 1818 (Diptera, Culicidae) of fauna of Ukraine

Abstract

As a result of the morphometric analysis on the mosquito larval structures of the genus Aedes Meigen, 1818 from our own collections and literature analyses, a wide variation in quantitative and qualitative indices was revealed. The morphological and metric indices of mosquito larvae are quite similar and vary under the influence of environmental factors, which must be taken into account when determining species. The tables for rapid determination of common mosquito species of Ukraine, with the use of external features that do not require the manufacture of permanent slide mounts, are given in the article. All modern keys for identification are based on dichotomous tables. This process is quite long, does not take into account the individual variability and does not allow the quick identification of species. After analyzing the literature and summing up the result, it can be confirmed that 35 species of bloodsucking mosquitoes of the genus Aedes occur within Ukraine, so there is a need to create a new regional key. The purpose of the study is to propose tables for determining the common mosquitoes of the genus Aedes in Ukraine using external morphometric characteristics. The material used for this study was collected by the author in March–October of 2017–2018 at the territory of Volyn Region. Over the entire study period, a total of 185 samples were collected, 1580 species of mosquito larvae of the genus Aedes were analyzed. During the work, 12 morphometric characters of bloodsucking mosquitoes were used and the results were tabulated to determine species of the genus Aedes. The proposed keys for definition are presented in the form of a tables and have certain advantages, such as, the ability not to take into account the characters lost in the process of collecting or storing and to complete the diagnostics on other features, that is quite problematic with the dichotomous keys, since they have a certain algorithms. The proposed tables are based on the using of quantitative and qualitative external characters and do not require the preparation of slide mounts in further work. There is also the possibility of creating an electronic key, which will greatly facilitate the work on the determination of the larvae in the genus Aedes.