THE PHILIPPINE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
VoL. XIV FEBRUARY, 1919 No. 2 
PHLEBOTOMUS NICNIC, A NEW SPECIES, THE FIRST 
PHILIPPINE RECORD FOR THIS GENUS 
By CHARLES S. BANKS* 
(From the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, Los Banos) 
ONE PLATE 
Although the genus Phlebotomus has been recorded from In- 
dia’ and Ceylon? no species of this genus has ever been noted 
as from the Philippines; in fact, casual collecting during a 
period of many years has resulted in the amassing of a con- 
siderable number of species of the Psychodide, none of which 
has been determined or described and among which there are 
sure to be found several new species in this very interesting 
group of the Diptera. 
The present paper is written especially to bring to scientific 
attention a new species of the genus as a serious factor in human 
existence in this part of the world and as a not improbable 
agent in disease transmission. 
For a number of years I have had accounts of a tiny fly which 
bites at night but which is “too small to be seen,” and it was 
only after experiencing the bite of this pest in the summer of 
1915 that I was able definitely to assign to a given fiy the term 
“nicnic” which is the Tagalog name of a “tiny fly too small to 
be seen.” I have therefore decided to give the vulgar name 
permanence as well as definiteness, by using it to designate a 
new species of Phlebotomus which was particularly abundant 
at the College of Agriculture campus about the middle of July 
in 1915 and which has been awaiting description since that 
time. 
Professor of entomology and chief of the department of entomology, 
University of the Philippines. 
* Brunetti, E., Fauna Br. Ind., Dipt. Mem. (1912), 202. 
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