CULEX SCHOLASTICUS 407 



CULEX SCHOLASTICUS Theobald. 



Culex scholasticus Theobald, Mon. Culic, ii, 120, 1901. 

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

 Culex scholasticus Blanchard, Les Moustiques, 336, 1905. 

 Culex scholasticus Theobald (in part), Mon. Culic, v, 380, 1910. 



Original Description of Cxtlex scholasticus : 



Thorax chestnut-brown, with small dark brown curved scales and traces of two 

 paler longitudinal lines; abdomen covered with dusky scales, each segment with a 

 lateral dull white basal triangular spot. Legs unhanded, covered with deep purplish- 

 black scales with sometimes bronzy reflections, coxae pallid, femora pale beneath, 

 ungues of the $ small, equal, simple; of the (^ unequal in fore and mid legs, equal and 

 simple in hind; fore and mid uniserrated. 



$. Head with greyish-brown curved scales and black upright forked ones, with a 

 border of pure silky-white ones around the eyes and with a few large black bristles 

 projecting in front, flat white scales at the sides; palpi black, with pale pubescence 

 and a few bristles near the base, paler in some lights; proboscis deep violet-black, 

 apex paler; antennae brown, basal joint bright testaceous on one side, dark brown on 

 the other, base of the second joint also testaceous; clypeus black; eyes purple and 

 silvery. 



Thorax brown, with small dark bronzy-brown curved scales and black bristles; 

 when viewed in certain lights with a hand-lens it has a chestnut-brown appearance 

 and two slightly pallid longitudinal lines; when denuded it is bright testaceous, with 

 an indistinct median and two lateral longitudinal lines; scutellum pale silvery-brown, 

 or pale ochraceous, with seven central bristles and eight or nine on each lateral lobe, 

 and with dark scales; metanotum cl'estnut-brown in some lishts, purplish-brown to 

 pale ochreous brown in others; pleurae pale brown to silvery-grey, with a few white 

 scales and a few small black hairs. 



Abdomen covered with deep purplish-black scales, each segment having a lateral 

 basal patch of creamy-white scales which are continued on to the sides of the abdo- 

 men and form distinct lateral patches, the last segment with a basal creamy-white 

 band and numerous dark bristles, each segment bordered posteriorly with golden 

 bristles, first segment ochraceous-brown, with two small patches of deep purplish- 

 black scales; venter densely white scaled. 



Legs with the coxae pallid grey; urder surfaces of the femora pale, remainder 

 covered with dark scales, sometimes showing ochraceous brown tir',es on the femora, 

 the rest of the legs with dull metallic purple or blue reflections in some lights, brown 

 in others; tibial joint with a pale orange-yellow spot at the apex; ungues small, equal 

 and simple. The tibiae are slightly ciliated at the apex and also at the base of the 

 metatarsi, especially of the hind legs. 



Wings with the first sub-marginal cell longer and narrower than the second pos- 

 terior cell, its stem short, only about one-third the length of the cell, base of the cell 

 nearer the base of wing than that of second posterior cell ; posterior cross-vein longer 

 than the mid cross-vein, about twice its own lensUi distant from the mid cross-vein; 

 fringe rather deen brown. 



Halteres with pale grey stem, fuscous knob. 



Length: 4.5 mm. to 5 mm. 



(^. Head as in the $, but with more silvery scales; antennae banded brown and 

 white, plumes brown, basal joint \ery br'srt testaceous; proboscis brown, slightly 

 testaceous at the base; palpi brown, almost black towards the apex, considerably 

 longer than the proboscis, which ends just in front of the base of the penultimate 

 joint at the palpi; no hair-tufts to the palpi, hairs very small. 



Abdomen narrow, the lateral patches of pale scales are small, the edges and bases 

 of the segments partly nude and very pale, giving the abdomen a quasi-banded ap- 

 pearance; there are also a few white basal scales on some segments; claspers brown, 

 terminal joints very pale; ungues of the fore and mid legs unequal, both with a 

 single tooth, that on the smaller claw minute and pointed, the tooth being nearly 

 straight, hind ungues both very small, equal and simple. 



Length. 4.8 to 5 mm. 



Habitat. Grenada, West Indies (W. E. Broadway, February 14, 1900, and 63); 

 St. Vincent, Cumberland Bay, and Richmond Estate Works (H. Powell, No. Ill, June 

 10, 1899) ; St. Lucia (O. Galgey, December 21, 1899). 



Time of capture. May (May 16, 1899), St. Vincent; February and March in 

 Grenada. 



Observations. This is a very easily recognized species, by the deep chestnut- 

 brown thorax, dark abdomen, with white lateral patches, and very pale pleurae and 

 bases to the legs. 



