Presence of Culex asteliae larvae and Ochlerotatus notoscriptus adults (Diptera: Culicidae) in a native tree canopy in the Auckland region

Although New Zealand has a species-poor mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) fauna with only 12 endemic and four exotic species (Derraik 2004), little information is available on their bionomics, particularly for indigenous species. One poorly known species is the endemic Culex (Culex) asteliae Belkin. Adults of this species have recently been collected in nature for the first time, and all specimens were recorded in canopy traps at 10 m (Derraik et al. 2005). This species is not believed to occur south of Auckland, and its main larval habitat seems to be the leaf axils of the native epiphyte Collospermum hastatum (Liliaceae) (Belkin 1968).