The morphology of the cibarial armature and sensilla of Mansonia titillans, Psorophora cingulata, Coquillettidia arribalzagae, Culex coronator and Limatus durhamii (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

A detailed description of the cibarial armature of the Neotropical mosquitoes Mansonia titillans, Psorophora cingulata, Coquillettidia arribalzagae, Culex coronator and Limatus durhamii, is presented. A sample of 15 specimens of each species was taken from the collections of two mosquito ecological projects located at Santa Clara, San Carlos, Alajuela and from La Selva, Sarapiquí, Heredia, Costa Rica. Each specimen, preserved in alcohol, was cleared, put into a mounting medium, head separated from body and eyes pinched to expose the cibarial armature and sense organs; finally a coverslip was added for a permanent slide. The bodies of all the mosquitoes were also mounted onto slides. The descriptions of the cibarial armatures were based on the characteristics of the dome, body, transversal bar, lateral flanges and cibarial teeth. Also the number, distribution and type of the sense organs are given. From the analysis, and comparison with known descriptions of other neotropical species, we conclude that the five species studied show enough characteristics for species recognition purposes.