778 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



the vestiture of the occiput indicates a distinct species. The median line of 

 narrow scales is distinctly broader, while the scales on either side of it are usually 

 very extensively black, 



AEDES OBTURBATOR Dyar & Knab. 



C^^lex trivittatus Coffin (not Coquillett), in Shattuck, The Bahama Ids., 289, 1905. 

 Aedes obturbator Dyar & Knab, Journ. N. Y. Ent. Sec, xv, 9, 1907. 

 Aedes obturbator Theobald, Mon. Culic, v, 485, 1910. 



Original Description of Aedes obturbator: 



Proboscis brown; palpi dark; head behind the eyes pale yellowish; at the sides a 

 dark spot; thorax bronzy yellow, a median dark brown stripe running the whole 

 length, the lateral margin brown with irregular outline; the scutellum is silvery; 

 pleura pale scaled. Abdomen black above, with white basal bands; beneath entirely 

 pale. Legs dark, unhanded, the femora pale beneath. All tarsal claws toothed in the 

 female. 



22 specimens. Tarpon Bay, Bahama Islands (T. H. Coffin). 



Type. Cat. no. 10141, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



Allied to Aedes auratus Grabham, but the thorax has a brown median band. 



Description of Female of Aedes obturbator (Male and Larva Unknown) : 



Female. Proboscis rather slender, subcylindrical ; labellse eonically tapered ; 

 vestiture brownish black ; setae minute, black, those on labellse more prominently 

 outstanding. Palpi short, one-sixth as long as the proboscis ; vestiture of black- 

 ish-brown scales and moderate black setae. Antennae filiform, the joints sub- 

 equal, rugose, pilose, black ; second joint a little swollen towards middle, its base 

 very pale; tori subspherical, with a cup-shaped apical excavation, pale yellow; 

 hairs of whorls moderate, sparse, black. Clypeus short, rounded triangular, 

 convex, dull brown, nude. Eyes black. Occiput dark brown, clothed with 

 rather broad curved scales over the whole vertex, flat appressed ones on the sides, 

 pale yellow, with a brown-black quadrate patch well down on the sides ; a group 

 of erect forked golden scales on the nape ; bristles along margins of eyes black, a 

 tuft projecting forward between the eyes pale yellow. 



Prothoracic lobes elliptical, remote dorsally, pale luteous, clothed with pale 

 scales and black bristles. Mesonotum dark brown, clothed with narrow curved 

 scales, metallic brownish yellow except a narrow, dark bronzy-brown, median 

 longitudinal stripe, broadened somewhat posteriorly from before antescutellar 

 space. Scutellum trilobate, gray, with pale yellow scales, each lobe with a group 

 of brown setae. Postnotum elliptical, prominent, dark brown, with yellow lateral 

 margins, nude. Pleurae pale luteous, with large dark brown spots, coxse luteous, 

 clothed with patches of flat, triangular white scales and rows of golden bristles, 

 the scales over the large, elongate dark brown spot along the humeral angles 

 dull brown. 



Abdomen subcylindrical, flattened, tapered posteriorly; dorsal vestiture 

 brownish black, a series of basal, segmental, narrow, dull white bands becoming 

 broader at sides ; first segment with dull black scales and many fine, pale setae ; 

 venter dull white, the last two segments with black apical bands. Cerci black. 



Wings rather broad, hyaline; petiole of second marginal cell less than half 

 as long as its cell, that of the second posterior cell considerably shorter than its 

 cell ; basal cross-vein distant more than its own length from anterior cross- vein ; 

 scales dark brown, outstanding ones broadly linear. Halteres whitish, with 

 brown knobs. 



Legs slender, moderately long; vestiture dull bronzy-brown; under sides of 

 femora yellowish nearly to tips; knees pale scaled. Claw formula, 1.1-1.1-1.1. 



Length : Body about 4.5 mm. ; wing 4 mm. 



Life history and habits unknown. 



Bahama Islands, West Indies. 



