WYEOMYIA SORORCULA 69 



WYEOMYIA SORORCULA Dyar & Knab. 

 Wyeomnia grayii Dyar & Knab (not Theobald), Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc, xiv, 228, 1906. 

 Wyeomyia grayii Dyar (not Theobald), Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., viii, 19, 1906. 

 Wyeomyia sororcula Dyar & Knab, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xix, 139, 1906. 

 Wieomtjia sororcula Pazos, San. y Ben., ii, 51, 678, 1909. 

 Wyeomyia sorocula Theobald, Men. Culic, v, 624, 1910. 



Original, DEscRirTiON of Wyeomyia sororcttla: 



Prothoracic lobes silvery white; head black behind, a square, diagonally placed, 

 white spot on the vertex, the sides below also white, less broadly and squarely so 

 than in W. fratercula; front tibiae dark metallic-blue above. 



53 specimens, San Francisco Mts., Santo Domingo, W. I., August and September 

 (A. Busck). 



Type. Cat. No. 9996, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



The larva of this species has been described under the name Wyeomyia grayii 

 Theob. (Journ. N. Y. ent. soc, xiv, 228, 1906), as identified by Mr. Coquillett. W. 

 grayii was described from Santa Lucia, and is most probably specifically distinct 

 from any of the forms before us. We can not be clear on this point, for Theobald's 

 description of grayii makes no mention of the color of the prothoracic lobes, so we 

 do not even know if grayii belongs to the present group. However, each island seems 

 to have its own species in this group of Wyeomyia, and the rule will probably hold 

 good in this case. 



Description of Female and Larva of Wyeomyia sororcula (Male Unknown) : 



Female. Proboscis rather swollen towards tip, stout ; labellse small, rounded, 

 with fine outstanding setee ; vestiture black, slightly roughened beneath. Palpi 

 short, flattened, one-eighth as long as proboscis, bronzy-black. Antennas 

 moderate, the joints slender, subequal, rugose, coarsely pilose, black; tori 

 subspherical, with a cup-shaped apical excavation, yellowish, with a silvery- 

 white pruinosity ; hairs of whorls long, rather sparse, black. Clypeus rounded, 

 convex, luteous pruinose. Eyes separated at vertex by a rather broad wedge, 

 bluish black. Occiput clothed with flat, brown scales with a metallic reflection, 

 a silvery-white spot at vertex and a narrow white border along lower half of eye, 

 widening to a patch below. 



Prothoracic lobes elliptical, remote dorsally, clothed with flat silvery-white 

 scales. Mesonotum clothed with elliptical, flat, light-brown scales, with sub- 

 metallic reflection; scales on lateral angles paler. Scutellum trilobate, with 

 vestiture similar to and continuous with that of mesonotum, each lobe with a 

 small tuft of black bristles. Postnotum elliptical, prominent, with a low, broad 

 median carina, dark-brown, a group of small setae near posterior margin. 

 Pleurae dark-brown, coxas luteous, clothed with elliptical, flat, silvery-white 

 scales. 



Abdomen subcylindrical, compressed, truncate at tip, with many long dark- 

 brown terminal set^e; dorsal vestiture black, with a slight bronzy and blue 

 reflection ; venter yellowish-white, the colors separated at the sides in a straight 

 line, the scales along median line suberect. 



Wings moderate, hyaline ; petiole of second marginal cell nearly half as long 

 as its cell ; that of second posterior cell about as long as its cell ; basal cross-vein 

 distant its own length from anterior cross-vein; outstanding scales of veins 

 long, ligulate, black, with blue reflection on the costa, denser and broader at 

 apex of wing. Halteres whitish, with black knobs. 



Legs rather long, slender, black with a bronzy and blue reflection; femora 

 whitish beneath; tibiae and tarsi with brassy luster beneath; mid legs, with 

 apical portion of the second, and all of third, fourth, and fifth joints silvery- 

 white within ; the hind tarsi have the basal halves of all the joints white beneath. 

 Claw formula, 0.0-0.0-0.0. 



Length : Body about 2.5 mm. ; wing 3.5 mm. 



Larva, Stage IV (plate 88, fig. 278). Head rounded; eyes small. Antennae 

 small, smooth, with a single hair at outer third; four irregular spines and a 



