URANOT^NIA 899 



The t3^pe species are : Of Uranotcunia Arribalzaga, Uranotcenia pulcherrima 

 Arribalzaga ; of Pseudouranotcenia Theobald, Pseudouranotccnia rnwlandii 

 Theobald; of Anisocheleomyiu Theobald, Anisocheleomyia nivipes Theobald 

 (by present designation), and of Pseudoficalhia Theobald, Pseudoficalbia 

 pandani Theobald. 



Generic Diagnosis of Adult: 



Palpi short in both sexes. Antennae slender in the female, the joints suboqual, 

 the hairs of the whorls moderate and sparse; usually plumose in the male, the last 

 two joints long, the others shorter, somewhat thickened at the insertions of the 

 hair whorls, each with a smaller secondary subapical whorl. Clypeus nude. Pro- 

 thoracic lobes remote dorsally, prominent. Bristles of mesonotum well developed. 

 Scutellum weakly trilobate, the middle lobe large. Postnotum nude. Abdomen 

 subcylindrical, broadly truncate at the tip in the female. Wings with the second 

 marginal cell usually short; second posterior cell also short; anterior and basal 

 cross-veins well separated. Claws simple in both sexes; the claws of the mid-legs 

 modified in the male, one of them very large, the other minute or absent. 



Generic Diagnosis of Laeva: 



Head elongate, usually with the two pairs of dorsal hairs single, strongly thick- 

 ened and spine-like; antennae small and stout; clypeus prominent; mouth-brushes 

 rather small. Air-tube rather long with basal pecten and single pair of hair-tufts. 

 Lateral comb of the eighth segment attached to margin of a chitinous plate. Anal 

 segment ringed by a chitinous plate, with ventral brush of few but long hairs in- 

 serted on a small barred area. 



America, exclusive of the boreal regions; also widely distributed in the 

 warmer parts of the old world. 



Uranotcenia is a somewhat generalized group, although showing specialization 

 in a number of details, such as the wing venation with its small forks of the 

 second and fourth veins, the short palpi of both sexes and the ornamentation 

 of brilliant scales. The reduced forks of the second and fourth veins suggest 

 relationship with Megarhinus and this finds further support in the presence, 

 in the wings of both genera, of a characteristic heavily chitinized strip behind 

 the fifth vein; furthermore, there is in Uranotcenia a distinct thickening in 

 the axillary cell representing the more strongly differentiated rudimentary 

 seventh vein of Megarhinus. The larva in its general appearance during life 

 suggests Anopheles, and this is enhanced by the correspondence in the elongate 

 head, prominent clypeus, similarity of mouth parts and other details. We are 

 disposed to consider these larval resemblances as indicative of relationship, 

 rather than as separately evolved. The closing mechanism in the breathing 

 tube of the larva is of a distinctly primitive type, when compared with such 

 forms as Culex and Aedes, and this again suggests the relationships just indi- 

 cated. Further indication of relationship between Anopheles and Uranotcenia 

 is found in the structure of the male genitalia, the harpes being absent in both 

 groups. It is therefore clear that the reduction of the palpi of the imago, as 

 elsewhere in the Culicidse, has no deep significance and is not indicative of re- 

 lationship. In fact, we believe that in the genus Bironella, founded on a single 

 male from New Guinea (Theobald, Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungar., iii, 69, 1905) and 

 generally referred to the " Anophelina " but agreeing with Uranotcenia and 

 Megarhinus in the reduced forks of the second and fourth veins, we have a 

 transition form between Uranotcenia, Megarhinus and Anopheles. In this form 

 the male palpi are rather long and clavate. The female is unknown, but will 

 probably prove to have short palpi and thus be intermediate in this respect 

 also. Finally it may be noted that the reduction of the forks of veins 3 and 4, 

 on which the genus Uranotcenia largely rests, is not equally pronounced in all 

 species, in fact weakly expressed in some; it is well marked in all the forms 

 examined by us except in U. anhydor. 



