Aedes (Ochlerotatus) taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann, 1821)

This is the first time that Ae. taeniorhynchus is recorded on Sint Maarten. Adults of this species were collected in the Belvedere district near the French border next to an open drain and a small pond, close to a marsh. Van der Kuyp (1954) reported that this species often co-occurs with Anopheles species. Interestingly, we trapped Ae. taeniorhynchus in conjuction with An. albimanus at this site. Furthermore, larvae were collected at a different site close to Mullet Bay Golf Course from stagnant rainwater on the course. This location is close to the American University building of the Caribbean School of Medicine where adults were trapped by students (Colin Michie, pers. comm., 27 July 2018). Van der Kuyp (1953, 1954) also reports Ae. taeniorchynchus from a well at Spring Bay, Saba. Despite our best efforts, both in April and October we were not able to find this species there again. However, during a subsequent study, a female of this species was trapped with a BG-Sentinel Trap in the harbour of Saba by one of the authors (Cornel et al., 2020) (Yoosook Lee, pers. comm., 1 September 2019), which shows that this species is still occurring on the island.

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Antillean adults of Ae. taeniorhynchus are described to be darker overall than their continental conspecifics (Belkin et al., 1970). This is most pronounced in the reduced white rings on the hind tarsus, with only a very small basal white ring on the 5th segment. Previously, these dark specimens have been described by Giles (1904) and Ludlow (1905) as two separate species: Ae. niger and Ae. portoricensis. Howard et al. (1917) noted the absence of differences in the male genitalia and larvae between both forms, and suggested the dark form was a “geographic race” of Ae. taeniorhynchus.