The taxonomic status of the members of the Culex pipiens (Cx. pipiens) complex is controversial.
The distinguishing features of the Culex mosquitoes are: cross veins on narrow wings, blunt abdomen, short palpus, and no prespiracular or postspiracular setae (CDC 2005).
Adults are generally active only during the warmer months.
They usually attack humans towards the middle of the night indoors and outdoors, but are often more attracted to birds (e.g. poultry).
A major domestic pest in many urban areas, particularly as indicated by indoor biting (although the similar Cx. molestus must be considered in some southern areas); it has been shown to be able to carry Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) virus in laboratory studies, MVE virus has been isolated from the species in northern WA, it has yielded an isolate of Ross River (RR) virus during an outbreak in New Caledonia, but from a number of laboratory studies in Australia it appears to be a poor and unlikely vector of MVE, Kunjin, RR and other arboviruses; it is a vector (not particularly efficient) of dog heartworm (and human filariasis in more northern tropical regions), an important vector of fowl pox, and possibly involved in myxomatosis transmission in some areas.
Stanley J. Carpenter, Walter J. Lacasse. 1974. Univ of California Pr.
4. The 2012 West Nile encephalitis epidemic in Dallas, Texas.
Chung et al. 2013. JAMA, 310(3): 297-307.