388 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



CULEX ATRATUS Theobald. 



Culex atratus Theobald, Mon. Culic, ii, 55, 1901. 

 Culex atratus Giles, Gnats or Mosq., 2 ed., 459, 1902. 

 Melanoconion atratus Theobald, Mon. Culic, iii, 238. 1903. 

 Culex atratus Blanchard, Les Moustiques, 335. 1905. 

 Melanoconium atratum Blanchard, Les Moustiques, 395, 1905. 

 Melanoconion atratus Dyar, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc, xiii, 55, 1905. 

 Melaniconion atrata Felt, Bul.i. 97, N. Y. State Mus., 487, 1905. 

 Melanoconion atratus Grabham, Can. Ent., xxxvii, 404, 1905. 

 Melanoconion atratus Theobald (in part), Mosq. or Culic. of Jamaica, 28, 1905. 

 Culex atratus Dyar & Knab, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc, xiv, 220, 1906. 

 Melanoconion atratum Peryassu, Os Culic. do Brazil, 242, 1908. 

 Melanoconion atratus Theobald (in part), Mon. Culic, v, 456, 1910. 



Oeigixal Description of Culex atratus: 



Thorax deep umber-brown to almost black. Abdomen black, sometimes with a 

 dull coppery-brown sheen, each segment with small lateral basal white spots, most 

 distinct on the apical segments; venter with broad, apical, creamy bands. Legs 

 dark brown to almost black, except at the base; a pale knee spot, and another at the 

 tibio-metatarsal joint. Fore and mid ungues of the (^ unequal, the larger with a long 

 median tooth, the smaller with a sharp basal tooth; hind equal and simple. 



$. Head with creamy-white curved scales in the middle, pale flat ones at the sides, 

 and with numerous black forked upright ones, which expand out very much at the 

 top; proboscis black scaled, thickened towards the tip, apex pale; palpi short, black 

 scaled; antennae brown, with pale pubescence, basal joint and base of the second 

 joint testaceous; eyes deep black, purplish in some lights, a narrow pale border sur- 

 rounding them. 



Thorax deep umber-brown to black, covered with narrow, deep-brown, curved 

 scales, and with two rows of long black bristles, and with numerous black bristles at 

 the sides; scutellum dark ochraceous-brown, with narrow dark scales and black 

 bristles; metanotum brown; pleurae paler, with a row of black bristles down to the 

 mid coxae. 



Abdomen covered with deep black scales, and each segment with a small basal 

 whitish spot on each side, which does not show dorsally on all the segments; pos- 

 terior borders with golden bristles; in some specimens the abdomen has a coppery- 

 brown appearance, and the lateral spots are only present on the last few segments; 

 venter with broad basal bands of creamy scales and few dusky ones forming apical 

 bands to the segments. 



Legs black, coxae grey, and also the ventral surface of the femora, except just at 

 the apex; apices of the femora and tibiae swollen; a small pale spot at the tibio- 

 metatarsal joint, and a small indistinct deep-yellow one at the knee; legs rather 

 long; they also show a deep bluish tinge in some lights. 



Wings a little longer than the body, with dark blackish-brown scales, very dense 

 and broadish on the first, second, third, and apical portions of the fourth veins; the 

 stems of the fourth, the upper arm of the fifth and the sixth with long thin scales on 

 each side in addition; the lower branch of the fifth with thin scales on one side only, 

 and the stem with no long scales; first sub-marginal cell considerably longer but the 

 same width as the second posterior cell, more than three times longer than the stem, 

 its base nearer the base of the wing than that of the second posterior cell; second 

 posterior cell with its stem about half the length of the cell; posterior cross-vein 

 about twice its own length distant from the mid cross-vein. Halteres with pale stem, 

 with a dark line down one side, and a fuscous knob. 



Length. 2.5 to 3 mm. 



(^. Head with pale curved creamy scales in the middle, flat dusky and then dirty- 

 white ones at the sides, numerous black upright forked scales as in the female, but 

 leaving a bare line in the middle of the head, and more dense on each side of it; 

 palpi and proboscis blackish-brown, with steely metallic reflections in some lights; 

 palpi not quite as long as the proboscis, the antepenultimate joint much expanded 

 at the apex; penultimate joint longer than the apical joint; antennae banded dark 

 brown and dirty-white; plumes of antennae and palpi blackish-brown. 



Ungues of fore and mid legs unequal, both with a tooth, that of the smaller very 

 pointed and near the base; hind ungues equal. 



Length. 2.5 mm. to 3 mm. 



Habitat. Jamaica, (Dr. Grabham, 8, 2, 1900, and F, Cundall, 7, 12, 1899); Trini- 

 dad (Urich). 



Time of capture. November and December. 



Observations. A small dark mosquito, which is clearly distinct, and which has 

 very characteristic wing scale-ornamentation, which should at once enable the col- 



