Culex

Culex [′kyü‚leks]

(invertebrate zoology)

A genus of mosquitoes important as vectors for malaria and several filarial parasites.

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Culex 

a genus of mosquitoes of the family Culicidae. When laid on the water, the eggs stick to each other in such a way that they form a boat-shaped mass.

There are more than 400 species, of which 20 are found in the USSR, chiefly in the Far East, Middle Asia, and the Caucasus. They are harmful to man as bloodsuckers; some carry the causative agents of such diseases as filariasis, Japanese B encephalitis, and encephalomyelitis. The most common species is Culex pipiens, which feeds on the blood of birds and attacks man primarily in southern regions. It is more often found in populated areas, where it flies into houses. It breeds mostly in ditches, barrels, and pits. There are several generations in a summer, with the greatest numbers occurring at the end of summer and in the fall. It winters in basements and cellars. Culex is not a carrier of the causative agents of human malaria; it can be the carrier of plasmodia which develop in the blood of birds. Countermeasures are the same as those used against mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles.

REFERENCE

Gutsevich, A. V., A. S. Monchadskii, and A. A. Shtakel’berg. Komary: Semeistvo Culicidae. Leningrad, 1970.

A. V. GUTSEVICH