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Cu l ex pi nsa is am eb r of th C . c pl x nJ . ecological conditions favorable for overwintering of Cx. p. pallens in urban areas are un-known. In two culverts of an urban environment in Saitama Prefecture, we collected 163 and 65 overwintering Culex adult mosquitoes in February 2005, and 133 and 51 in early March 2006, respectively. Molecular identi cation of 89 mosquitoes collected from culvert A in 2005 showed that all specimens were Cx. p. pallens . Our nding shows that the overwinter-ing sites of Cx. p. pallens in an urban environment. It is important to understand the ecology of overwintering of Cx. p. pallens in an urban areas and consequently contribute to control of overwintering mosquitoes.Key words: Culex pipiens pallens , overwintering site, urban environment, culvert I ˜ ˇ˜ Members of the Culex pipiens complex are potential vectors of human lymphatic laria-sis, dog heart worm and various viruses caus-ing encephalitis such as St. Louis encephalitis, equine encephalitis and West Nile fever. In the United States, a West Nile fever epidemic has been ongoing since 1999, and patients have exceeded 30,000, with more than 1,200 fatalities in the last 11 years (CDC, 2011). West Nile virus (WNV) is maintained in na-ture by many species of birds as amplifying hosts, and the virus has been detected in more than 326 species of birds in the United States, although there are great di erences in the viremia level among bird species (CDC, 2009; Wheeler et al., 2009). WNV has also been detected in 64 mosquito species, includ-ing genera