New Species of Culicidae in the British Museum, with Notes on The
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63 NEW SPECIES OF CULICIDAE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, WITH NOTES ON THE GENITALIA OF SOME AFRICAN CULEX. BY F. W. EDWARDS. (Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) In preparing his first synopsis of the African species of Culex (Bull. Ent. Res., ii, pt. 3, Oct. 1911) the writer relied almost entirely upon characters of coloration for the separation of species, and had made no study of the male genital organs ; at the same time it was pointed out that the group of species allied to Culex invidiosus required much additional study before their classification could be regarded as satisfactory. It is now possible to give in full the results of further study of the African species of Culex of the pipiens and invidiosus groups. It has been found that, in these groups at least, the species can most readily be separated by means of the male genitalia, and also that one or two names which had previously been sunk as synonyms must in reality stand as good species. In the present contribution figures are given of the male genital organs of eleven species ; these, together with the four already illustrated (Bull. Ent. Res., iv, pt. 1, May 1913) comprise all the African Culex with the exception of (1) those with a banded proboscis; (2) those with characteristic leg markings, C. tigripes and C. tipuliformis; (3) C. pruina, which is described below; (4) C. didieri, N.L.,and C. pygmaeus,~N.Ii., which the writer is unable to recognise; and (5) those with the pale markings of the abdomen situated towards the apices of the seg- ments. As before, all the figures have been prepared by Mr. A. J. Engel Terzi with very great care and accuracy, and I am much indebted to him for his assistance in this difficult piece of work. The male hypopygium of Cukx may be described as follows:—The word hypopygium is used to denote all the structures representing the ninth and tenth segments of the abdomen. The ninth segment is typically represented by a small tergite and sternite and a pair of large side-pieces carrying the claspers at their ends. In Culex the ninth tergite is usually about twice as broad as long, the only exception known to me occurring in C. perfidiosus (fig. 12) in which this plate is distinctly longer than it is broad. The sternite, as in most other CULICIDAB, is represented by a pair of narrow plates just connected in the middle and furnished on their posterior margin with a fringe of hairs ; these lobes have been variously termed the setaceous lobes and the basal appendages; they are incorrectly regarded by Felt, Theobald, Howard, Dyar and Knab as belonging to the eighth abdominal segment. The side-pieces are very hairy, but without scales ; they have processes on their inner side near the apex which bear a leaf-like plate and five or six usually more or less rod-like filaments. The tenth body-segment is represented in the simplest forms of Culex by three sets of paired 64 F. W. EDWARDS—NEW SPECIES OF CULICIDAE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM organs, the unci, harpagones and harpes. The unci (fig. 1, a) are the most dorsally Fig. 1.—Culex trifilatus, sp. n. Basal parts of hypopygium from above, highly magnified ; right side-piece of hypopy- gium, inner side view, enlargement about half that of the basal parts ; a, unci; 6, first, 61, supplementary and c, second divisions of the harpagones; d, harpes, with crowns of spines ; e, basal projection of the harpes. situated ; they have practically the same form throughout the genus, and are usually very strongly chitinised. These plates are regarded by Dyar and Knab as representing a division of the harpagones, but I believe this view to be incorrect, and prefer to consider them as strictly homologous with the unci of other CULICIDAE. The harpagones in the simplest forms of the Culex group {Culiciomyia, etc.) are represented by a single pair of undivided plates, but in all the forms here considered they have a more com- plex structure, consisting of at least two definite divisions, the first one often elaborately split up, the second one usually taking the form of a long straight rod just above the harpes. In some species (as C. pipiens, C. fatigans, C. trifilatus) the first division of the harpagones is clearly divided into two portions, in which case the lower part is here spoken of as the supplementary division (fig. 1, b1). The harpes are provided with a dense crown of spines, and normally they have a long finger-hke projection at their base. WITH NOTES ON THE GENITALIA OF SOME AFRICAN CULEX. 65 Normally the small basal parts of the hypopygium (unci, harpagones and harpes) are in the relative positions in which they are shown in this paper, but sometimes (perhaps after use) they take up another position relatively to one another, in which the unci are folded outwards and the harpagones pushed out so that they occupy a position at right angles to the normal one. The figure of C. pallidocephalus (Bull. Ent. Res., May 1913, p. 56) represents these parts in this position; a specimen in which they are thus placed (and the dislocation may occur in any species of Culex) at first sight appears to possess a very different structure from one in which the position is normal. Culex trifilatus, sp. nov. Head with the upright forked scales yellow, a few black towards the sides ; narrow curved scales yellowish-white; orbital bristles black, except those in the middle, which are yellow. Palpi and proboscis in the female entirely black-scaled. Male palpi longer than the proboscis by the last joint; penultimate joint with a line of yellowish-white scales beneath, terminal joint with two or three similarly coloured scales at its base beneath. Thorax with dark brown integument, black bristles and small dull bronzy-brown scales, mixed with slightly paler and coarser ones which tend to form indistinct lines; the scales on and near the scutellum yellowish. Abdmnen black dorsally, with well-defined yellowish basal bands on each segment, of almost even width, but broadening out laterally into the usual side-spots which are not visible from above. Segments of venter with black apical bands, which in the middle line extend nearly to the base of each segment. Hypopygium of 3 as in fig. L The specific name is derived from the three filament-like divisions of the harpagones, which readily distinguish this species from all others. Legs black-scaled, except the under sides of the femora towards the base, and the tips of the femora and tibiae which are yellowish. Claws normal (i.e. the fore and mid claws of the male unequal, each with a single tooth, the hind claws of the male and all the claws of the female equal and simple). Wings with dark brown scales ; the fork-cells rather long, the upper one with its base a little nearer to the base of the wing ; cross-veins separated by a distance rather less than the length of the posterior one. Lateral vein-scales linear. Length about 5 mm. BRITISH EAST AFRICA : 18 $ (including type) 31 $, Kabete, xi. 1913 (T. J. Anderson). This species closely resembles C. pallidocephalus, Theo. It differs in having more numerous yellow upright forked scales on the head (in C. pallidocephalus most of these scales are brown) and in the slightly shorter male palpi, which have no white scales towards the apex of the terminal joint on the under side; the dark apical bands on the ventral segments are more distinct and blacker than in C. pallidocephalus. In C. pallidocephalus there are some paler scales on the under side of the proboscis about the middle, especially in the female ; there are quite absent in C. trifilatus. Also the ventral aspects of the femora in 0. pallidocephalus are much more extensively pale. Culex andersoni, sp. nov. Differs from C. trifilatus as follows :—the narrow curved scales of the head are more golden-yellow, and the brown upright forked scales preponderate over the yellow ones; the scales of the mesonotum are mainly golden-yellow, with a certain number of (CIO) E 66 F. W. EDWARDS—NEW SPECIES OF CULICIDAE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM dark brown ones, most numerous on the posterior third, where the golden yellow ones tend to form two distinct lines, one on each side of the bare space in front of the scutellum; scutellar scales golden yellow; under sides of femora almost entirely dark; hypopygium as in fig. 2. Length about 6 mm. BRITISH EAST AFRICA : 6 $ (including type) 12 $, Kabete, 2. viii. 1913 (T. J. Anderson); bred from larvae found in a bucket of rain-water on the Government Farm. \ Fig. 3.—Culex simpsoni, Theo. Larva whitish, with very dark head and siphon. Head tufts composed of 4-6 plumose hairs, the two pairs in the middle very close together. Tuft of antenna at about f. Comb of eighth segment consisting of a patch of about 60 scales, roughly equal in size. Siphon about 5X l.pecten consisting of about ISteeth, reaching nearly half the length of the siphon ; three pairs of ventral hair-tufts and one lateral pair at about J-. WITH NOTES ON THE GENITALIA OF SOME AFRICAN CULEX. 67 Culex simpsoni, Theo. Although this species has really little resemblance to C. andersoni the hypopygia of the two are very similar, the chief differences being that in C. simpsoni (fig. 3) the unci are more sharply pointed and the first division of the harpagones is differently toothed.