A large species with pale basal bands on the tarsi; wing length 5.2-5.5 mm.
Female
Proboscis liberally sprinkled with white scales; from the side, it appears to have a transverse white band at mid length. Palps dark with scattered pale scales at the bases of the segments. Pedicels pale-scaled. Scutum reddish brown with narrow white lines on either side of an indistinct median stripe; a narrow, central, darker line on the cuticle shows through the scales. Anterior to the prescutellar space lateral patches of pale scales lie alongside the median stripe. Lower mesepimeral setae and hypostigmal scale patch absent. Postprocoxal patch of pale scales present. Abdominal tergites with basal white bands. Legs with scattered pale scales. The females are very similar to those of excrucians and aloponotum. They can be separated by the shape of the tarsal claws. Wings dark with many scattered pale scales.
Larva
Head setae 5 and 6-C 2-branched in most specimens. 10-20 long-spined comb scales in a ragged row. Siphon 3½-4 x 1, pecten reaching more than halfway along it, 2 or 3 teeth unevenly spaced. 1-S inserted just distal to last tooth. (In aloponotum and excrucians, pecten may have 1 or 2 widely spaced teeth but does not reach mid siphon near which 1-S is inserted). Saddle reaching 2/3 or more around anal segment. Papillae brownish in some specimens, much longer than anal segment.
Aëdes is the Greek word for disagreeable. Without the dieresis the word means house or building. Although Meigen did not use a dieresis, he translated it as troublesome. Some authorities, therefore, write the generic name Aëdes. Most species of British Columbian mosquitoes belong to this genus. The females all have short palps, usually less than one quarter of the length of the proboscis, and in both sexes the posterior margin of the scutellum is tri-lobed with the setae in three tufts.
Aedes is a large and variable genus and in the field the most reliable character to separate females from other mosquito genera is the pointed abdomen. Males can be identified in the field by their large and separated gonocoxites but if these are not obvious the thorax can be examined for the presence of postspiracular setae which are absent in the males of Culex, Culiseta, and Mansonia. A slide of the terminalia, as well as confirming the genus, can be used to determine the species. (See Wood et at. 1979).
When at the water surface, the larvae of all culicines hang downwards from the hydrophobic tip of the siphon and are thus easily distinguished from anophelines.
Aedes larvae can be distinguished from those of Culex and Culiseta by the position of the siphon seta (1-S). It is never at the base of the siphon in aedines and can be seen with a hand lens if the larva cooperates.
The pupae are hard to identify. It is usually simpler to let them emerge.
Nearly all aedine adults in British Columbia die in late summer or autumn. The eggs are laid singly or in clusters, usually in crevices at the margins of suitable breeding sites. They do not float. Most aedines overwinter as eggs.
Adults of this species are easily confused with excrucians, because the females and the male genitalia are almost identical. On the other hand, the larvae can be misidentified as riparius if the keys of Rempel (1950) or Curtis (1967a) are used. I have seen larvae and adults in collections from northern forest, the Cariboo, Okanagan and Lower Fraser Valley and it probably occurs throughout the Province. Ae. euedes is known to attack man readily but is unlikely to be found in sufficient numbers to be considered a pest in British Columbia.
