Faunal richness and the checklist of Indian mosquitoes ( Diptera : Culicidae )

A review of published studies revealed that the Indian mosquito fauna comprises 393 species in 49 genera and 41 subgenera. The subfamily Anophelinae contains 61 species in one genus followed by Culicinae with 332 species in 11 tribes and 48 genera. The tribe Aedini (subfamily Culicinae) contains the highest number of species (176 species in 33 genera and two groups of incertae sedis; i.e., “Aedes” sensu auctorum and “Ochlerotatus” sensu auctorum). With the recent taxonomic changes in tribe Aedini, the Indian mosquito genera have gone up from 22 to 49. Changes to the Indian Aedini fauna subsequent to the reclassification of tribe Aedini are discussed. A total of 31 species are currently recognized in India for transmitting various mosquitoborne agents of human diseases. A checklist for the Indian mosquito species is presented and the need for a comprehensive study is emphasized. DOI: 10.15560/10.6.1342 L s t s o f s p e c ie s


Introduction
Mosquitoes, belonging to family Culicidae and order Diptera, are a large group of insects present throughout the temperate and tropical regions and even beyond the Arctic Circle of the world (Harbach 2007).The Oriental Region, which includes India, is regarded as one of the richest biogeographic regions for mosquitoes of the world, along with the Neotropics (Gaston and Hudson 1994).At present, a total of 3,540 recognized mosquito species, divided between two subfamilies and 112 genera, are recorded in the world (Harbach 2014).A three to fivefold increase of the present numbers can be foreseen with more discoveries and naming of sibling species mainly in Anopheles, as a result of application of DNA-based methods (Harbach 2007).India is ranked fifth in terms of mosquito biodiversity after Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand (Foley et al. 2007).After the monumental works of Christophers (1933) and Barraud (1934), not many comprehensive biosystematics studies of Indian Culicidae have been undertaken.Since that time, many changes have taken place in the mosquito taxonomic literature.However, in the absence of any up-to-date monograph on Indian Culicidae, entomologists in India are still compelled to use these two books.In this context, as mentioned by Reuben et al. (1993), it needs to be emphasized that publications of the Southeast Asian Mosquito Project are very useful for the identification of Indian mosquito species.Berlin (1972) rightly proposed for a systematic study of Indian Culicidae because of increasing mosquito-borne diseases, changing ecology and advances in mosquito systematics.The online systematic catalog of Culicidae listed 356 species in India (Gaffigan et al. 2014).Although fewer in mainly since the 1980s (Bhattacharyya et al. 2000(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2002(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2003(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2004a(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2004b(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2005(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2007(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2008(Bhattacharyya et al. , 2009;;Khan et al. 1998;Rajavel andNatarajan 2006, 2011;Rajavel et al. 1998Rajavel et al. , 2004Rajavel et al. , 2005aRajavel et al. , 2005bRajavel et al. , 2005cRajavel et al. , 2005dRajavel et al. , 2011;;Rajput and Singh 1987a, 1987b, 1987c, 1989, 1990;Reuben et al. 1993;Tewari et al. 1987;Tewari and Hiriyan 1991, 1992, 1995).The systematic catalog of Culicidae provides information on country occurrence records of mosquito species.The mosquito taxonomic inventory contains up-to-date information on world Culicidae.The internal classification of genera Anopheles, Culex, Verrallina and Uranotaenia are available in the website of mosquito taxonomic inventory, which is followed here for the Indian mosquito fauna belonging to these genera.Recent abbreviations of generic and subgeneric names provided by Reinert (2009a) are followed here.The authorship of generic and species names is provided in the check list (Appendix 1).

Results and Discussion
Records indicate that the Indian mosquito fauna includes 393 species divided among 49 genera and 41 subgenera.Subfamily Anophelinae contains 61 species in one genus followed by subfamily Culicinae with 332 species in 11 tribes and 48 genera.Tribe Aedini of subfamily Culicinae contains the highest number of species (176 species in 33 genera and two groups of incertae sedis, i.e., "Aedes" sensu auctorum, "Ochlerotatus" sensu auctorum) (Table 1).The check list of the Indian Culicidae is presented as Appendix 1.In India, 31 species are currently recognized for transmitting various mosquito-borne pathogens; these are listed in Table 2.
Subfamily Anophelinae: Subfamily Anophelinae has three genera globally.Indian species are confined to genus Anopheles, with 61 formally named species divided between subgenera Anopheles and Cellia.However, the number of species will increase with the naming or recognition of synonymous names of sibling species in several groups or complexes.In India, subgenus Anopheles contains 26 species.In this subgenus, the assemblage of species in two most important groups (Hyrcanus and Barbirostris Groups) is still uncertain in India.The Hyrcanus Group is a highly complex group, which includes 30 closely related species distributed widely in the Oriental and Palaearctic regions, with some species playing important role in transmission of malaria and filariasis (Ma and Xu 2005).This Group was also incriminated as a vector of Japanese encephalitis in India and neighboring countries.Only seven species of this Group were recorded from India in comparison to 25 species recorded in China (Ma et al. 1998(Ma et al. , 2000a(Ma et al. , 2000b)).Morphological identification of these species in adult stage seems to be very difficult or impossible unless accompanied by associated immature skins (Harrison and Scanlon 1975).Many anopheline surveys carried out in India recorded An. nigerrimus of Hyrcanus Group to be the most predominant, seemingly because their identification was based on adult stage (Malhotra et al. 1987;Nagpal and Sharma 1987).However, surveys carried out in north-east India and Western Ghats of South India, where species identification was done using adult as well as associated larval and pupal characters, recorded An. peditaeniatus to be the most prevalent and An.nigerrimus as rather uncommon species (Khan et al. 1998;Tewari et al. 1987).Immature surveys carried out in upper Brahmaputra valley detected An. crawfordi, An. paraliae, An. peditaeniatus and An.sinensis of Hyrcanus Group from the north-east India, but did not collect any specimen of An. nigerrimus (Khan et al. 1998).
A few specimens identified as An.paraliae in these surveys were collected as immatures from a forest fringe area of Assam.Earlier considered as a subspecies of An. lesteri, An. paraliae was later elevated to species status by Harrison et al. (1990), but more recently it has been synonymyzed with lesteri by Taai et al. (2013), hence it is listed as lesteri here.However, distribution of this species is restricted to low elevation coastal areas of Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Thailand (Harrison and Scanlon 1975).This species is also easily misidentified with An. pursati.Hence, record of this species in India needs further investigation, incorporating DNA-based analysis similar to China, where, ITS2 marker of r-DNA was used to differentiate member species of An. hyrcanus group (Ma et al. 1998(Ma et al. , 2000a(Ma et al. , 2000b)).Recently, ITS2 sequencing of some specimens of Hyrcanus Group confirmed the presence of An. crawfordi, An. peditaeniatus and An.sinensis in the north-east India (Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh, Assam, India; unpublished data).Similarly Barbirostris Group which includes 11 species globally also has uncertain distribution records for most of the species, particularly in Indonesia and Indian sub-region, mainly because of identification difficulties (Harrison and Scanlon 1975).Four species were recognized in this group from India.An. hodgkini was detected from Assam during larval collections (Khan et al. 1998).
Subgenus Cellia containing 35 species encompasses all important vectors of human malaria in India.Recently, two new species have been described from this subgenus from India.An. pseudosundaicus belonging to Pyretophorus Series was described from coastal areas of Kerela (Tyagi et al. 2009).Another species belonging to Maculatus Group of the Neocellia Series named as An.krishnai was described (Sathe and Jagtap 2012).However, Harbach (2014) noted the lack of credible evidence to support the recognition of this proposed species.Hence, krishnai is regarded as nomen nudum and is not included in our list of Indian Anopheles.Anopheles dthali and Anopheles superpictus have been known only from extreme northwest (Baluchistan) which is not part of India.They have also not been recorded subsequently in India and therefore not included in the present checklist.
Several anopheline taxa recognized earlier to be medically important are now found to be complexes or groups of morphologically indistinguishable species (Rattanarithikul et al. 2006).Some important complexes and groups recorded in India are, An. annularis (species A and B), An. culicifacies (species A, B, C, D and E), An. dirus (species X), An. fluviatilis (species S, T, U and V), An. subpictus (species A, B, C, and D) and the An.sundaicus (cytotype D) complexes (Walton et al. 1999;WHO 2007).With the advances in mosquito taxonomy several species belonging to such groups or complexes are now formally named.An. maculatus, recognized as one such species group, includes nine formally named species (Harbach 2014;Somboon et al. 2011).A recent study revealed the Tribe Aedeomyiini: A single genus Aedeomyia is included in this tribe.This genus is not listed in the mosquito catalog under the Indian mosquito fauna.However, Tyson (1970) reported Andaman Islands as one of the distribution localities for Aedeomyia catastica.This species was also reported from mainland India from Assam and Western Ghats (Khan et al. 1998;Reuben et al. 1993) and in the mangrove forests of Sunderbans, West Bengal (Rajavel et al. 2005a).
Tribe Aedini: In the earlier classification the tribe Aedini contained 11 genera (Knight and Stone 1977 and its supplements).Recent reclassification of this tribe has raised the number of genera to 81 (Reinert et al. 2004(Reinert et al. , 2006(Reinert et al. , 2008(Reinert et al. , 2009)).Reinert (1999Reinert ( , 2000a) ) earlier resurrected Verrallina and Ayurakitia to generic rank.Revision of tribe Aedini resulted in the elevation of many former subgenera of Aedes to generic status (Reinert et al. 2004).Downsiomyia was elevated to genus level from synonymy with Finlaya.Further examination and revision of Finlaya and allied taxa and Ochlerotatus and allied taxa (Reinert et al. 2006(Reinert et al. , 2008)), followed by comprehensive phylogenetic study of tribe Aedini (Reinert et al. 2009) resulted in recognition of more genera and rearrangement of taxa.
As per the current classification, Indian fauna of tribe Aedini includes 176 species in 33 genera and two groups of incertae sedis species ("Aedes" sensu auctorum-4 and "Ochlerotatus" sensu auctorum-5).Indian species belonging to subgenus Finlaya genus Aedes are now placed in 12 genera (Bruceharrisonius, Collessius, Downsiomyia, Danielsia, Finlaya, Gilesius, Hopkinsius, Hulecoeteomyia, Himalaius, Jihlienius, Ochlerotatus and Phagomyia).Similarly species of the subgenus Diceromyia of India are now placed in three genera Dendroskusea, Petermattinglyius and Tewarius.Illustrated keys of these new genera present in Thailand were provided by Rattanarithikul et al. (2010).Further details are available in the website of mosquito taxonomic inventory.Kaur (2003) provided updated distribution maps of Indian Aedini fauna.
Genus Aedimorphus: Earlier recognized as a subgenus of genus Aedes, Aedimorphus is now elevated to generic rank (Reinert et al. 2009).Mostly Oriental in distribution, of the 67 species recognized in this genus, 15 species were recorded from India.
Genus Armigeres: Distributed mainly in the Oriental region and also in the Palaearctic and Australasian regions, the genus Armigeres is represented by 20 species in India, between two subgenera Armigeres and Leicesteria.Rajput and Singh (1987c) reported the detection of Ar. dolichocephalus from Manipur state.Ar. joloensis, a rare mosquito species, was detected from upper Assam (Bhattacharyya et al. 2000).Recently a new species Ar. mahantai collected as immatures from endemic pitcher plant Nepenthes khasiana of Meghalaya state in the northeast India was described (Bhattacharyya et al. 2009).Ar. pallithorax, described from Yunnan, China was detected from Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh (Rajavel et al. 2011).
Genus Ayurakitia: This genus is represented by only two species detected from mountainous areas of western Thailand (Reinert 1972).Recently, occurrence of this genus was reported for the first time from India as larvae collected form Pandanus axils in Meghalaya, north-east India and reared to adults, were found to be Ayurakitia peytoni (Rajavel and Natarajan 2011).
Genus Bruceharrisonius: An earlier subgenus of genus Ochlerotatus (Reinert 2003) Bruceharrisonius was later elevated to generic rank (Reinert et al. 2006).This genus includes four species in India.Three species earlier in Aureostriatus Subgroup (Aureostriatus Group) and one species of Auronitens Subgroup (Alboannulatus Group) of subgenus Finlaya genus Aedes (Knight and Marks 1952) are now placed in genus Bruceharrisonius.
Genus Christophersiomyia: A former subgenus of genus Aedes, now elevated to generic rank (Reinert et al. 2004), Christophersiomyia includes five species, of which, four occur in India.Cr. gombakensis, reported for the first time from Western Ghats, is a new country record (Reuben et al. 1993).
Genus Cancraedes: Cancraedes was elevated to genus from former subgenus of Aedes (Reinert et al. 2009).Of the total ten species included in this genus from Oriental Region, only two species occur in India.
Genus Collessius: A newly recognized genus Collessius (Reinert et al. 2006) includes species formerly in Pseudotaeniatus Subgroup of Mediovittatus Group, subgenus Finlaya of genus Aedes (Knight and Marks 1952).In India this genus is represented by four species divided into two subgenera.
Genus Danielsia: Danielsia was elevated to generic rank from synonymy with Finlaya and included three taxa (Reinert 2009b).In India this genus is comprised of two species formerly in Albotaeniatus Subgroup of subgenus Finlaya, genus Aedes.
Genus Dendroskusea: All five species included in genus Dendroskusea are found in India.These species were earlier placed in subgenus Diceromyia of genus Aedes.
Genus Downsiomyia: Downsiomyia as a genus was resurrected from synonymy with Finlaya (Reinert et al. 2006;Reinert and Harbach 2006).This genus is represented by six species in India which were earlier placed in the Niveus Subgroup of subgenus Finlaya.The species Do. nivea (Ae.niveus) has been incriminated as a vector of diurnally subperiodic Wuchereria bancrofti in the Nicobar islands (Tewari et al. 1995).Tewari and Hiriyan (1995) redescribed this species from Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Genus Edwardsaedes: Comprising of three species, the genus Edwardsaedes is represented by only one species in India.
Genus Finlaya: In the earlier classification Finlaya was one of the largest subgenus of genus Aedes comprising of 42 species in India.However, in the current classification, the genus Finlaya includes species only from Kochi Group  of subgenus Finlaya (Reinert et al. 2004(Reinert et al. , 2006;;Reinert and Harbach 2005).Two species of Finlaya are found in India.Fl. flavipennis was reported for the first time from mangrove forest ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Rajavel and Natarajan 2006).
Genus Fredwardsius: Fredwardsius vittatus is the only species included in this genus, which is present in India.
Genus Gilesius: Of the two species included in this genus, only one species occurs in India.
Genus Heizmannia: This genus is represented by 13 species in India, 11 species under subgenus Heizmannia and two species under subgenus Mattinglyia.Rajput and Singh (1987b) first reported the occurrence of Hz. aureochaeta in India from Manipur state.Similarly Hz. chengi was reported for the first time from Jeypore hill tracts of Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005b).
Genus Himalaius: Two species representing this genus are found in India.
Genus Hopkinsius: Hopkinsius contains two subgenera, Hopkinsius and Yamada.Only one species belonging to subgenus Yamada occurs in India.
Genus Hulecoeteomyia: Reinert et al. (2006) resurrected Hulecoeteomyia to generic status from synonymy with Finlaya.Five species included in this genus from India were earlier placed in Chrysolineatus Subgroup of subgenus Finlaya.
Genus Jihlienius: Of the three species recognized in this genus, only one is found in India.
Genus Kenknightia: Kenknightia comprised of 12 species of which only two species represent this genus in India.
Genus Lorrainea: Presence of Lo. amesii and Lo.fumidus belonging to genus Lorrainea were first reported from India based on collections made in mangrove forests of Sundarbans, in West Bengal (Rajavel et al. 2005a), Bhitarkanika in Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005c) and Andaman Nicobar Islands (Rajavel et al. 2004).Previously, species of this genus were reported from Thailand, Philippines and Solomon Islands.
Genus Mucidus: Reinert (2000b) earlier treated Mucidus as a subgenus of newly elevated genus Ochlerotatus.However, in the later classification Mucidus was elevated to generic rank (Reinert et al. 2004).Three species of Mucidus are known to exist in India.Confirmed occurrence of Mu. laniger was reported from two forest areas of Assam, north-east India (Bhattacharyya et al. 2005).
Genus Neomelaniconion: Mainly distributed in Afrotropical region, only one species Neomelaniconion lineatopenne represent this genus in the Oriental region including India.
Genus Ochlerotatus: This genus includes only one species in India.
Genus Paraedes: Subgenus of the genus Aedes in the earlier classification, Paraedes has been raised to genus level (Reinert et al. 2004) and is represented by four species in India.In this genus the confirmed presence of Pr. ostentatio was reported from a tropical forest zone of Dibrugarh district, Assam (Bhattacharyya et al. 2002).Barraud (1934) earlier reported this species from Malabar Coast of Kerela on the basis of female specimens.Reinert (1981) on resurrection of Pr. chrysoscuta from Pr. ostentatio considered Barraud's Indian record under distribution of Pr. chrysoscuta, but pointed that Mattingly (1958) questioned the records from India.Until evidence is available otherwise, we retain Barraud's record as Pr.chrysoscuta and include it in the present checklist.
Genus Petermattinglyius: Petermattinglyius comprises of two species in India.These two species were earlier placed in subgenus Diceromyia.Pe. franciscoi was reported for the first time from mangrove forest ecosystem of Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005c).
Genus Phagomyia: Phagomyia was elevated to generic status from synonymy with Finlaya and includes species formerly in Gubernatoris Subgroup of subgenus Finlaya (Reinert et al. 2006).Phagomyia includes 11 species in India.Ph. feegradei was new addition to the mosquito fauna of India from the mangrove forest ecosystem of Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005c).
Genus Rhinoskusea: Rhinoskusea comprises of three species in India.In this genus one new species Rh. portonovoensis was described from mangrove forest of the east coast (Tewari and Hiriyan 1991).The detection of Rh. wardi from mangrove forests of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a new country record (Rajavel and Natarajan 2006).Reinert (2000b) earlier treated Rhinoskusea as a subgenus of genus Ochlerotatus.However, in the later classification Rhinoskusea was elevated to generic status (Reinert et al. 2004).
Genus Scutomyia: Scutomyia includes only one species in India.
Genus Stegomyia: The medically important genus Stegomyia includes 19 species in India.In this genus St. krombeini, earlier placed in Scutellaris Group of genus Aedes and subgenus Stegomyia (Huang 1979), was detected first from south India (Tewari et al. 1987) and later from north-east India (Bhattacharyya et al. 2008).Huang (1975) reported this species to be very common in Sri Lanka, which probably remained undetected as it was mistaken for another common species, St. albopicta.Hence careful observations during entomological surveys are necessary to differentiate St. krombeini from St. albopicta, especially in rural and forest areas of India.The records of St. flavopicta in Assam, western Himalayas and Coorg (Barraud 1934) was not considered by Huang (1972) who restricted its distribution to Japan and Korea.Its inclusion by Kaur (2003) in Indian species is based on Barraud (1934).While St. pseudoalbopictus, St. subalbopictus and St. novalbopictus have been recorded in collections made in several parts of the country, St. flavopicta has not been obtained and hence it is not included in the present checklist.At present of the eight new subgenera recognized for this genus, only eight Indian species are placed in five subgenera.Remaining 11 species under this genus are still without subgeneric placement.
Genus Tewarius: Of the four species included in this genus, three are found in India.Reinert (2006) placed Te. agastyai, Te. reubenae and Te.nummatus of subgenus Diceromyia to a new genus Tewarius.Te. agastyai and Te.reubenae were described from Western Ghats (Tewari and Hiriyan 1992).
Genus Udaya: Udaya includes three species from the Oriental region, of which two are found in India.
Genus Verrallina: Divided into three subgenera this genus contains 23 species in India.Subgenus Neomacleaya contains most of the species (16) followed by Harbachius (four) and Verrallina (three).A new species Ve. assamensis was described from Assam (Bhattacharyya et al. 2004a) and Ve.consonensis was recorded for the first time from Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Rajavel and Natarajan 2006).Ve. ceylonica was recently collected from Kerela state (Vector Control Research Centre, Puducherry, India unpublished report).
Incertae sedis species: Nine species belonging to two groups "Aedes" sensu auctorum and "Ochlerotatus" sensu auctorum, regarded to be of uncertain taxonomic position, are now under this head.Though, not considered as their formal status, the genus and subgenus of these species are now kept as provided by the authors.Four new species of undetermined subgenus (Aedes kolhapuriensis, Aedes sangitee, Aedes panchgangee and Aedes sangiti) were described from Kolhapur district of Maharashtra (Girhe and Sathe 2001;Sathe and Girhe 2001).However, descriptions of these species were inadequate and mainly based on adult female characters.Comparisons with closely related species were not available in the descriptions.Hence, collections of all life stages may be required for comparing with other related species to establish their validity and placing them in relevant genera and subgenera.Genus Aedes is now restricted mainly in the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions.We retained these species in the checklist as they were already in the list of mosquito catalog and mosquito taxonomic inventory.Similarly, five species retained in genus "Ochlerotatus" and subgenus "Finlaya" (Oc. auronitens, Oc. oreophilus, Oc. sintoni, Oc. suffusus and Oc. versicolor) are yet to be placed in relevant genera in the current classification.
Tribe Culicini: Culicini includes 81 species in two genera and seven subgenera in India.
Genus Culex: Genus Culex is represented by 77 species in six subgenera in India with Lophoceraomyia being the predominant subgenus with 28 species, followed by subgenus Culex with 23 species.This genus contains many important vectors of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus and microfilariae in India.In subgenus Culex, Vishnui Subgroup contains three most important vectors (Cx.tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. vishnui and Cx.pseudovishnui) of JE in India.Presence of another three members in this subgroup i.e.Cx. alienus, Cx. perplexus and Cx.whitei, which can only be identified distinctively from other members on the basis of larval, pupal and male phallosome characters (Sirivanakarn 1976), can create diagnostic problem in JE vector surveillance in areas of their occurrence.Barraud (1934) earlier collected larvae of Cx. whitei from Haflong area of Assam.Few larvae of Cx. alienus which is regarded as one of the uncommon members by Sirivanakarn (1976) within this subgroup were collected from Assam.Cx. perplexus earlier known only from Andaman Islands was also reported from mangrove forests of Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005c).
In subgenus Culiciomyia, Rajput and Singh (1987a) first reported Cx. harrisoni from Senapati district of Manipur.Cx. spathifurca was reported for the first time during a mosquito faunistic study in a mangrove forest ecosystem of Tamil Nadu (Rajavel et al. 1998).Cx. scanloni known earlier from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam was detected from Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka (Rajavel et al. 2011) .Subgenus Eumelanomyia is now represented by 10 species in India.One species Cx. hinglungensis was reported first time from Manipur state of India (Rajput and Singh 1989).
In subgenus Lophoceraomyia one new species Cx. singhbhumensis was described from Orissa (Natarajan and Rajavel 2009).Several other species were also recorded from various parts of India such as Cx.lasiopalpis and Cx.pholeter from south India (Reuben et al. 1993), Cx. quadripalpis from the northeast India (Bhattacharyya et al. 2003) and Cx.pilifemoralis and Cx.wilfredi from Jeypore hills, Orissa (Rajavel et al. 2005b), are new addition to the mosquito fauna of India.Similarly Cx. aculeatus, Cx. paraculeatus and Cx.gracicornis from Assam, Cx. cubitatus from Andaman and Nicober Islands and Cx.inculus and Cx.demissus from Orissa are new country records (Rajavel et al. 2011).Cx. wardi previously known only from Sri Lanka was recently collected from Kerela state (Vector Control Research Centre, Puducherry, unpublished report).
The subgenus Maillotia is represented by only one species in India.
Tanaka ( 2004) resurrected Oculeomyia from synonymy as a new subgenus of genus Culex, which includes species earlier placed in the Bitaeniorhynchus Subgroup of subgenus Culex.This subgenus includes 6 species in India.Under this subgenus two females of Cx. luzonensis resting on vegetation were collected from Alwar, Rajasthan (Rajavel et al. 2011).
Genus Lutzia: It contains four species all in subgenus Metalutzia.A new species Lt. agranensis was described by Singh and Prakash (2008).
Tribe Culisetini: This tribe includes a single genus.Three species under two subgenera were recorded from India.
Tribe Ficalbiini: The tribe includes two genera i.e.Ficalbia and Mimomyia.One species of Ficalbia and six species of Mimomyia are found in India.
Tribe Hodgesiini: Tribe Hodgesiini includes a single genus and represented by only one species in India.
Tribe Mansoniini: Two genera are included in this tribe.The genus Coquillettidia includes three species and genus Mansonia is represented by four species in India.
Tribe Orthopodomyiini: Only one genus is included in this tribe which is represented by five species in India.
Tribe Sabethini: Sabethini includes 14 genera of which only three (Malaya, Topomyia and Tripteroides) are found in India.Genus Malaya is represented by two species and Tripteroides by eight species in India.Our experience indicates that genus Tripteroides requires further studies in India, especially in bamboo forested areas of the northeast India.Oriental in distribution (Thurman 1959), the genus Topomyia was represented by only one species in India, till Bhattacharyya et al. (2007) added three more species from Arunachal Pradesh.Further collections in high rainfall forested areas may increase the number of species in this genus.
Tribe Toxorhynchitini: Only one genus is included in this tribe.The genus Toxorhynchites includes nine species in India.Tx. tyagii is a new species described from Nilgiri hills, Western Ghats, southern India (Krishnamoorthy et al. 2013).
Tribe Uranotaeniini: Uranotaenia is the only genus in this tribe represented by 28 species (15 in subgenus Pseudoficalbia and 13 in subgenus Uranotaenia) in India.Ur. micans was first reported from India from Manipur state (Rajput and Singh 1990).Subsequently, Ur. ohamai was recorded from Western Ghats, South India (Reuben et al. 1993).Ur. dibrugarhensis is a new species described from Dibrugarh district of Assam (Bhattacharyya et al. 2004b).Ur. rutherfordi reported only from Sri Lanka was recently collected from Kerela state (Vector Control Research Centre, Puducherry, unpublished report).
At least 31 species are recognized in India for transmitting various pathogens to humans (Table 2).
Mosquito taxonomy provides essential inputs for vector control.In Vietnam, non-vector species An. varuna was misidentified as An.minimus and targeted as vector (Bortel et al 2001).An. fluviatilis, a recognized primary vector of malaria in the north-east India (Mohapatra et al. 1998) is now found to be a seasonal variant of An. minimus (Singh et al. 2010).In respect of malaria vectors, Manguin et al. (2008) suggested that vector control in a region is dependent on the numbers and complexity of the primary and secondary vectors and hence, requires study of the whole anopheline fauna in order to integrate the diverse information about vector system to formulate appropriate and effective control strategy.Besides, sylvatic cycles of some unknown arboviruses capable of spreading to humans may thrive in our forest ecosystem.The history of Chikungunya virus available in the web resource database of Chikungunya Virus Net suggested this virus to be originally circulated in the sylvatic cycle between forest dwelling mosquitoes and non-human primates, has now spread to different parts of the world including India.These facts clearly signify the importance of mosquito fauna study.
Limited studies carried out in some parts of India since the 1980s detected several new species and many new country records.With the increasing mosquito borne diseases and changing ecology there is a need for the reassessment of Indian Culicidae fauna.Comprehensive surveys with the incorporation of DNA-based methods such as DNA barcoding of mosquitoes (Pradeep Kumer et al. 2007) need to be undertaken on a large scale.

Table 1
(Prakash et al. 2010)icidae in India.presence of six member species of the Maculatus Group in the north-east India, with detection of An. rampae constituting a new country record(Singh et al. 2012).Such studies may be extended to other areas where Maculatus Group is present.Similarly, species X of the Dirus Complex, reported earlier from Yunnan province of China, was also detected in Haflong area of Assam in the north-east India(Prakash et al. 2010).Subfamily Culicinae: Subfamily Culicinae is comprised of 332 species divided into 11 tribes and 48 genera in India.

Table 2 .
Vectors of mosquito-borne diseases in India.
Appendix 1. Systematic checklist of mosquitoes of India.