Aedes aegypti
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Culicidae
- Genus: Aedes
- Species: Aedes aegypti
Visual Description
Aedes aegypti is a small mosquito characterized by distinct, contrasting markings on its body and legs. Observed traits include:
- Thoracic Pattern: The scutum (dorsal part of the thorax) typically features a lyre-shaped pattern of white scales, which is a key diagnostic feature for identification [2].
- Leg Markings: The legs exhibit conspicuous white bands at the joints of the tarsal segments, giving them a striped appearance [1].
Distribution and Ecology
Aedes aegypti is a primary vector for several arboviruses, including dengue and chikungunya [3]. It is primarily distributed throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions, with significant populations in areas such as northern Brazil and southeast Asia [3].
The species is highly adapted to human environments, often breeding in domestic water-holding containers [3]. Temperature is the most significant environmental predictor of its occurrence, accounting for approximately 54.9% of the relative influence in predictive models [3].
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Culicidae / Aedes / aegypti constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- ↑ Aedes aegypti. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_aegypti. Accessed 2026-07-14.
- 1 2 3 4 Moritz U. G. Kraemer; Marianne Sinka; Kirsten A. Duda; Adrian Mylne; Freya M. Shearer; Christopher M. Barker; Chester G. Moore; Roberta Gomes Carvalho; Giovanini Evelim Coelho; Wim Van Bortel; Guy Hendrickx; Francis Schaffner; Iqbal Elyazar; Hwa‐Jen Teng; Oliver J. Brady; Jane P. Messina; David M. Pigott; Thomas W. Scott; David L. Smith; GR William Wint; Nick Golding; Simon I Hay. The global distribution of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus. eLife. 2015. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.08347.