Mansonia was named after Sir Patrick Manson who studied the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malarial and nematode parasites in the 1870's.
Some authorities have resurrected the sub generic name, Coquillettidia Dyar, 1905, for the part of this genus that includes our species, perturbans. As the name Mansonia perturbans has been used continuously since the 1920's however, I have followed Wood et al. (1979) in retaining Blanchard's name.
Only one species of the genus occurs in Canada. The structure and habits of the larvae and pupae of this mosquito set it apart from all others in the country. The siphon of the larva and respiratory "trumpets" of the pupa are modified so that these stages can attach themselves to the underwater stems and roots of plants (mainly cattails, Typha latifolia, in British Columbia) which provide all their oxygen requirements. Because the immature stages do not surface for air they are difficult to find and, incidentally, difficult to control with pesticides.
This is the only blunt-ended female in the Province that has a pale band at mid length on the first hind tarsomere. The wing scales are unusually broad.
The eggs are laid in clusters on or above the water surface among the "host" plants. The first instar larvae, which obtain all the oxygen they need by diffusion through the body, swim down and pierce the plant with a specially adapted siphon. Moulting and pupation occur while larvae are attached to the plant. The last larval moult is complicated because the siphon is lost and the pupa has to insert its respiratory "trumpets" into the plant. When the pupa is ready to moult it breaks off the drill-like ends of the "trumpets" and rises to the surface where the adult emerges.
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