''Haemogogus clarki'' is an
arboreal mosquito native to southern
Central America and northern
South America.
[Pedro Galindo, Stanley J. Carpenter and Harold Trapido. 1952. The Taxonomic Status of the ''Aedes leucocelaenus'' Complex with Descriptions of Two New Forms (Diptera, Culicidae). ''Annals of the Entomological Society of America'', 45(4): 529-542; http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/046000-2.pdf.] It is deep brown in color with conspicuous patterns of silver scales on the scutum and pleuron.
[J. Hal Arnell. 1973. Mosquito Studies (Diptera, Culicidae) XXXII. A revision of the genus ''Haemagogus''. ''Contributions of the American Entomological Institute'', 10(2): 1-174; http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/MQ0316.pdf.] The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
honors Dr. Herbert C. Clark, former Director of the
Gorgas Memorial Laboratory.
Bionomics
''Haemagogus'' species breed primarily in
treeholes and cut or broken bamboo internodes above ground level, but are often found in bromeliads and fallen fruits and occasionally in ground pools and rockholes
in tropical rain forest, open deciduous and second growth forests, and coastal mangrove associations.
The native range of ''Haemagogus clarki'' includes
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
,
Nicaragua,
Panama, and
Venezuela.
[Thomas V. Gaffigan, Richard C. Wilkerson, James E. Pecor, Judith A. Stoffer and Thomas Anderson: "Haemagogus » Conopostegus » clarki (Galindo, Carpenter and Trapido)" in ''Systematic Catalog of Culicidae'', Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/taxon_descr.aspx?ID=15777, accessed 13 Feb 2016.]
Medical importance
Adult females have been recorded biting humans during daylight hours,
usually attacking the lower body.
The genus ''Haemagogus'' plays a primary role in the transmission of sylvan ("jungle")
yellow fever in Central and South America; in laboratory transmission experiments, all species of ''Haemagogus'' tested have been found capable of harboring the virus or transmitting it by bite.
References
Insects described in 1952
Aedini
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