Mosquito project update
Hi all,
We have been buzzily (pun intended) working with on mosquitoes in our lab but we are about to come up for air. We have some great Mosquitoes in Hawai`i project news!
First, we are very excited not only have we gotten a new species record for the project, it came from our great new collaborator Dr. Matthew Medeiros from UH Manoa. Matthew recently started as an assistant professor in the Pacific Biosciences Research Center at UH. Matt got his undergraduate at UH and his PhD at the University of Missouri-St. Louis studying avian malaria under Robert Ricklefs. Now that Matthew is back in Hawaii he has begun to work on Hawai`i's invasive mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit.
Matt has been actively adding records to and identifying mosquitoes on our project. This attention paid off on March 16th, Matthew made the first project observation of an Inland Floodwater Mosquito Aedes vexans on Oahu! Here is his photo:
To identify this species, look for the combination of the a 'fuzzy brown back' (the scutum covered with short brown scales lacking any particular pattern) coupled with obvious 'B' shaped markings that run sideways on the dorsal surface of the abdomen (or 'tergites' see here for photos and more information).
Second, we are ALMOST at 1000 records, thank you so much! As of today we have:
983 OBSERVATIONS of 7 SPECIES made by 135 OBSERVERS and determined by 63 IDENTIFIERS!!! Here is the species breakdown!
With 798 of these observations classified at research grade. Let's try to get to push this to 1000 research grade records!
I have some more news from the lab and new collaborators to introduce in my next message so STAY tuned!
All the best,
Durrell (@cydno)
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