All Topics  
Aedes

 
Aedes

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Aedes
 
 
  Topics Aedes Topic Home

Aedes is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of mosquito
Mosquito

Mosquitoes are common flying insects in the family Culicidae that are found around the world. There are about 3,500 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs....
 originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but has spread by human activity to all continents excluding Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
. Several of the species transmit important human diseases and one species, Aedes albopictus, is the most invasive mosquito in the world. The name comes from the Greek aedes, meaning "unpleasant" or "odious", so called because of the diseases this mosquito transmits, including dengue fever
Dengue fever

Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are acute fever tropical diseases, found in the tropics and Africa, and caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae....
 and yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Aedes'
Start a new discussion about 'Aedes'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Aedes is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of mosquito
Mosquito

Mosquitoes are common flying insects in the family Culicidae that are found around the world. There are about 3,500 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs....
 originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but has spread by human activity to all continents excluding Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
. Several of the species transmit important human diseases and one species, Aedes albopictus, is the most invasive mosquito in the world. The name comes from the Greek aedes, meaning "unpleasant" or "odious", so called because of the diseases this mosquito transmits, including dengue fever
Dengue fever

Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are acute fever tropical diseases, found in the tropics and Africa, and caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae....
 and yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
. In Polynesia
Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean....
, the species Aedes polynesiensis is responsible for the transmission of human lymphatic filariasis
Filariasis

Filariasis is a parasite and infection tropical disease, that is caused by thread-like filarial nematode worms. There are 9 known filarial nematodes which use humans as the parasitic life cycles....
 including species of Brugia as well as others.

The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti
Aedes aegypti

The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti , is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases as well....
) genome is being sequenced by The Broad Institute and The Institute for Genomic Research
The Institute for Genomic Research

The Institute for Genomic Research was a non-profit genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in Rockville, Maryland, United States....
 (TIGR). The initial assembly was released in August 2005; a draft sequence of the genome and preliminary analysis was published in June 2007. Annotation of the sequence is being undertaken by VectorBase
VectorBase

is one of the eight Bioinformatics_Resource_Centers funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID a component of the National Institutes of Health , which is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services....
 and TIGR.

Characteristics

Aedes species are typical small mosquito
Mosquito

Mosquitoes are common flying insects in the family Culicidae that are found around the world. There are about 3,500 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs....
es. They usually have black and white stripe markings on their body and legs.

Systematics and phylogeny

The genus was named by Johann Wilhelm Meigen
Johann Wilhelm Meigen

Johann Wilhelm Meigen was a German entomologist famous for his pioneering work on Diptera....
 in 1818. There are presently some controversial moves afoot to abolish Aedes as a generic name and to replace it with Stegomyia. Some species of Aedes (the Asian tiger mosquito
Asian tiger mosquito

The Asian tiger mosquito or forest day mosquito , from the mosquito family Culicidae, is characterized by its black and white striped legs, and small black and white body....
) have been introduced to the US and have spread as far north as Iowa. The genus contains over 700 species (see the list of Aedes species
List of Aedes species

The large mosquito genus Aedes includes the following species. Where known, this list will indicate whether the species bites man and any pathogens the species carries:...
). The genus is divided into several subgenera (Aedes, Diceromyia, Finlaya, Stegomyia etc.), many of which would be elevated to genus level.

See also

  • Aedes aegypti
    Aedes aegypti

    The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti , is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases as well....