Mansonia titillans

Freshwater habitats supporting emergent floating vegetation, particularly water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). Immature stages are closely associated with the roots and undersurfaces of these aquatic plants.

Neotropical region with records from Brazil (Espírito Santo, Paraná, Rondônia), Caribbean, Middle America, and North America. In the United States, documented in central Florida phosphate region and recently expanded northward to South Carolina (Beaufort, Berkeley, Clarendon, Colleton, and Georgetown counties).

Peak abundance observed June–July in central Florida. Adults collected August–December in South Carolina.

Eggs are deposited underwater on undersurfaces of aquatic plant leaves, enveloped in an air bubble transported on the female's hydrofuge abdomen. Larvae and pupae attach to submerged roots of floating vegetation for respiration, piercing plant tissues to access air.

Females exhibit symmetrical abdominal stroking during oviposition: outstrokes consist of scratching with tergal spines to abrade the leaf surface, while instrokes (of longer duration) deposit glued egg rows. This underwater oviposition is homologous to the free-floating egg raft construction seen in Culex and Culiseta.

• Mansonia dyariSympatric in Florida phosphate region; M. titillans was more abundant (66% of Mansoniini collected vs. lower abundance for M. dyari)
• Mansonia humeralisNeotropical congener with similar aquatic plant associations; distinguished by cytogenetic differences in chromosome arm lengths and C-band distribution
• Mansonia pseudotitillansClosely related species with karyotypic differences in average chromosome arm lengths relative to the centromere

• mosquito
• Culicidae
• Mansoniini
• neotropical
• underwater oviposition
• aquatic plants
• Pistia stratiotes
• Eichhornia crassipes
• range expansion
• Florida
• South Carolina
• Brazil
• vector biology

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• An Mosquito Mansonia titillans (Walker) (Insecta: Diptera: Culicidae: Culicinae: Mansoniini)
• A quantitative analysis of underwater oviposition by the mosquito Mansonia titillans
• Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Mansonia Dyari, Mansonia Titillans, and Coquillettidia Perturbans (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Central Florida, USA, Phosphate Region1
• New County Records Demonstrating a Northern Expansion of Mansonia titillans in South Carolina, USA
• Caracterização molecular de microbiomas bacterianos associados a mansonia humeralis (diptera: culicidae), e determinação cariotípica do grupo mansonia spp., rio madeira, amazônia ocidental