Aetheapnomyia Harbach & Greenwalt, 2012

Aetheapnomyia Harbach & Greenwalt, 2012 View in CoL

Type species: Aedes hoffeinsorum Szadziewski, 1998 (by monotypy).

Diagnosis (based on Szadziewski 1998; Harbach 2024, 2025, and current observations, amended). Adult male: Antenna longer than proboscis, pedicel enlarged, terminal flagellomere with apical stylet-like or conical prolongation; maxillary palpus shorter than proboscis, comprised of 4(?) or 5 palpomeres (see species description and Discussion), terminal palpomere very short, about 0.3 length of preceding palpomere; proboscis noticeably swollen distally; paratergal, postspiracular and lower mesepimeral setae present; wing with cell R 2 much shorter than vein R 2+3; fore- and midungues long, unequal, simple, borne well before apex of tarsomere 5.

Notes. Aetheapnomyia , like most generic-level taxa of Aedini ( Reinert et al. 2009) , is mainly a polythetic taxon that is diagnosed by a unique combination of characters. At present, the only possible unique (wholly diagnostic) character may be the preapical attachment of the fore- and midungues. Aetheapnomyia hoffeinsorum was originally described as a species of Aedes ( Finlaya) , but, as explained by Harbach & Greenwalt (2012), the absence of spotted wings precludes it from being placed in the subgenus Finlaya , and the unique combination of short maxillary palpi, greatly reduced palpomere 5, proboscis swollen distally, cell R 2 of the wing much shorter than vein R 2+3 and the preapical attachment of the fore- and midungues preclude it from being placed in the extant genus Aedes . Szadziewski (1998) described the antenna as shorter than the proboscis, which is inconsistent with detailed measurements in his paper. The genitalia bear some resemblance to certain extant species of the Ochlerotatus Group of subgenera of the genus Aedes (see the Discussion).