Classification of Aedes by Numerical Taxonomic Methods (Diptera: Culicidae)

The procedures of numerical taxonomy were applied to 48 species of Aedes mosquitoes, of which 45 were from North America. Seventy-one characters from the larvae and 77 from the adults were expressed in numerical codes. Distance coefficients were computed between pairs of species after the characters had been standardized. The phenetic relationships were summarized in the form of a dendrogram by the unweighted pair group method of cluster analysis, using arithmetic averages (UPGMA). Much agreement was found between the relationships indicated by this dendrogram and the current classification, but changes in the current classification were also indicated. Some of the more noteworthy changes are: the fulvus species group should be raised to the subgeneric level ( Chrysoconops Goeldi); the subgenus Culicelsa should be lowered to the species group level ( taeniorhynchus species group); sierrensis should be returned to the subgenus Finlaya ; and within the subgenus Ochlerotatus the communis species group should be split, and minor codifications made in the other species groups.