Assessment of expertise in morphological identification of mosquito species (Diptera, Culicidae) using photomicrographs

Accurate identification of insect species is an indispensable and challenging requirement for every entomologist, particularly if the species is involved in disease outbreaks. The European MediLabSecure project designed an identification (ID) exercise available to any willing participant with the aim of assessing and improving knowledge in mosquito taxonomy. The exercise was based on high-definition photomicrographs of mosquitoes (26 adult females and 12 larvae) collected from the western Palaearctic. Sixty-five responses from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were usable. The study demonstrated that the responders were better at identifying females (82% correct responses) than larvae (63%). When the responders reported that they were sure of the accuracy of their ID, the success rate of ID increased (92% for females and 88% for larvae). The top three tools used for ID were MosKeyTool (72% of responders), the ID key following Becker et al. [2010. Mosquitoes and their control, 2nd edn. Berlin: Springer] (38%), and the CD-ROM of Schaffner et al. [2001. Les moustiques d’Europe: logiciel d’identification et d’enseignement – The mosquitoes of Europe: an identification and training programme. Montpellier: IRD; EID] (32%), while other tools were used by less than 10% of responders. Responders reporting the identification of mosquitoes using the MosKeyTool were significantly better (80% correct responses) than non-MosKeyTool users (69%). Most responders (63%) used more than one ID tool. The feedback from responders in this study was positive, with the exercise being perceived as halfway between educational training and a fun quiz. It raised the importance of further expanding training in mosquito ID for better preparedness of mosquito surveillance and control programmes.


2022, 03 February
The European project MediLabSecure offers you the opportunity to evaluate your competence in the identification of mosquito species in the Europe-Mediterranean area.
In practice, this assessment involves three stages: 1) Download high resolution photo plates of 26 adult females and 12 four-instar larvae at https://mycore.core-cloud.net/index.php/s/kHSionPrXg0VRSi This download (330 MB) is available now until 10 March 2022 included. For your information, all the plates were made by Nil Rahola / IRD from mosquitoes kept in the ARIM (ARthropodes of Medical Interest) collection in Montpellier, France.
2) Proceed in your own way (dichotomous key, MosKeyTool, books...) to identify each species, either alone or with several colleagues. You have the possibility to zoom in very strongly to observe details on the areas of interest (setae, scales, teeth...). The photo of the leg shows a left hind leg unless otherwise indicated. This identification being strictly morphological, the species of the same complex cannot of course be distinguished from one another, except in certain favourable cases by taking into account the origin of the photographed specimen (here Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Caucasus, i.e. the Western Palearctic ecozone). You are invited to identify the 26 females and 12 larvae regardless of where they were collected.
3) Indicate the results of your identifications on the MS-Word document that is pre-filled. This document is joined with the plates; it indicates the geographical origin of the photographed specimen and gives some morphological info that may be useful for identification, especially for larvae. This completed file (at least for the names of genera and species) must be returned as an attached file to vincent.robert@ird.fr by Monday 14 March 2022 at the latest. This is the deadline for submitting your results in order to receive your final evaluation confidentially within 10 days (i.e. before 25 March).
Your result will be considered as a confidential document and its eventual further use will be exclusively statistical, and not nominative (see for example Jourdain et al, Parasites & Vectors, 2018, 11: 553. doi.org/10.1186.
No prior registration is required. Participation is entirely free of charge and does not commit you to anything. -

Selection of comments (in English)
Some identifications require measurements of wings or appendices. This is not possible using the photographs in the absence of scale bars. Suggest adding scale bars where appropriate or possible.
I believe that our results would have been much better if we could have spent more time.
I didn't have time to look at the larvae, as I'm pretty busy with my PhD, and I have no expertise with larvae yet, so that was the reason to only identify the females.
I was on vacation the last couple of days, so, I have some times to work on the specimens. I think there are some windows for improving the MosKeyTool.
I'm relatively new to mosquito identification and there obviously is a lot of room for improvement but this was a great exercise, thanks a lot! Prespiracular setae in Culiseta annulata are much better visible than under the stereo microscope.
Congratulations on this initiative, the photos are spectacular. It's been so much fun.
I'm so sorry about my bad results. Moreover, at the last minute I changed three right results to wrong ones.
I am really pleased that most of my answers are correct. Nevertheless, I am pretty angry at myself for having mistaken one of the most common species, Ae. albopictus! Thank you once again for the opportunity to test my competence.
What a great MediLabSecure initiative to organize a test for ID skills, thanks a lot! Thank you for this nice test. Let's hope that for the future tests we will be able to meet face-to-face with real specimens.
It was interesting doing this kind of exercises, we learned a lot.
I had a lot of fun testing my knowledge in mosquito identification and I will most certainly focus more on improving my knowledge in larval stage in the future. If you are planning similar tests in the future I would love to participate again.
The photos are really nice and the specimens perfect. So if you use one or two keys you should find the species. I prefer to check myself with different keys. It is always nice to learn to identify new mosquitoes.
I didn't work with larvae, so I don't have the knowledge to identify them. I hope to learn in the future.
I did not perform larval samples related to the lack of basic knowledge about the larval morphology. I understand to needing learn larval morphology.
It has been very interesting and we enjoyed it a lot! We hope we have done all with no mistakes and we will be waiting to know our score! We hope this will help you to continue working in this field.
Congratulations on this initiative, the photos are spectacular. It's been so much fun.
This quiz was fun and very educational thanks to your feedback. Please tell Nil that he's done an incredible job.
What a great initiative to organize a test for ID skills, thanks a lot! Many of the North African species are new for me, we never see those here of course. But great fun to try. And not to forget: many thanks & compliments to the photographer who made all those excellent pictures. Outstanding! I would like to thank the MediLabSecure Project team for this kind of exercise, so useful to simultaneously evaluate and ameliorate our knowledge in mosquito's taxonomy.
Some of the specimens we were identifying for the first time, but we consider this experience very helpful. The description of the specimens now are clearer for us and the plates of photos you will provide will be very useful.
It was really a pleasure and improvement skills to the identification, especially for larvae.
About larvae, my experience is very limited with their identification. Usually, when we catch larvae from the field, we let them to rearing and we make species identification on the adult stage because is easiest.