VARIATION IN THE ABDOMINAL STERNAL BANDING OF CULEX ANNULIROSTRIS SKUSE (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE)

SUMMARY Mosquitoes identified as Culex sp. nr annulirostris , or termed atypical in Annual Reports of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and with uninterrupted apical dark banding on abdominal sternites V‐VII, are variants of Cx annulirostris. Atypical progeny were reared from females of normal banding pattern and vice versa. The atypical pattern occurred 5‐12 times more often in males than females. An average of 2% of female Cx annulirostris sampled from 23 localities in Queensland and two in the Northern Territory were of the atypical pattern, which occurred more in the north than in arid inland centres.