[ noun ] type genus of the Culicidae: widespread genus of mosquitoes distinguished by holding the body parallel to the resting surface <noun.animal>
Culex \Cu"lex\, n. [L., a gnat.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of mosquitoes of the family {Culicidae}, to which most of the North American species belong. Some members of this genus are exceedingly annoying, as {Culex sollicitans}, which breeds in enormous numbers in the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, and {Culex pipiens}, the common house mosquito, breeding very widely in the fresh waters of North America. (For characters distinguishing these from the malaria mosquitoes, see {Anopheles}, above). The yellow-fever mosquito is now placed in another genus, {Stegomyia}.
Note: This genus formerly (ca. 1900) included the gnat as well as the mosquito. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]