a handbook of the mosquitoes of north america - Systematic Catalog ...

CULICINI 205
and violet scales, the tips of the joints white. Occiput green, olive
and bronzy, the margins of the eyes and sides whitish. Mesonotum
brown, a short median stripe and sides lighter, the scales numerous
and giving all shades of blue, green and violet. Abdomen metallic
green with large, rounded, lateral, segmental spots golden yellow;
venter golden yellow with a median dark violaceous stripe. Legs
dark purple; femora largely yellowish; fore and mid tarsi with tip
of first and all of second, third and fourth joints white; hind tarsi
with tip of third, all of fourth and all of fifth except tip white. Wing
scales few, broad and purplish.
Male lzypopyyiutn. Side-pieces sharply conical, a little more than
twice as long as broad; apical lobe absent; basal lobe large, rounded,
with three stout apical spines and a few smaller ones. Clasper long,
slender, uniform in shape. Tenth sternites long, prominent, recurved
tooth at tip. Mesosome of two separate lateral plates, enlarged at
base, sharply pointed at tips; plates toothed reversely on their inner
face. Lobes of the ninth tergite broadly united, rounded at their sides
and slightly constricted at the middle, each lobe with a group of setae.
Larva. Head longer than wide; antenna short, with two separate
hairs on outer third. Abdomen with numerous stout, feathered spines.
Lateral comb of the eighth segment a large chitinized plate with
feathered hairs on the posterior border. Air-tube stout, tapered, two
and one-half times as long as wide; pecten absent; a multiple hair-
tuft near the base. Anal segment wider than long, ringed by the
dorsal plate; dorsal brush two long, multiple tufts on each side; ven-
tral brush large, confined by the plate. ,4nal gills very short.
This rnosyuito is large and brilliantly colored. It flies by
day and feeds on nectar found in flowers. The larvae are
found in tree-holes, and artificial containers of water. They
are predacious and feed on other mosquito larvae. It occurs
in the eastern United States, from Virginia south to the Gulf
and west to Oklahoma.
GENUS WYEOMYIA
Wyeomyia Theobald, Jour. Trop. Med., 4, 233. 1901.
This genus is almost entirely tropical in distribution. There
are only three species in North America, of which two occur
in southern Florida and are not described here.