OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XII, 1910. 81 



ON THE IDENTITY OF CULEX PALLIDOHIRTA. 



[Diptera; Culicidae.] 

 BY HARRISON G. DYAR AND FREDERICK KNAB. 



Grossbeck described Culex pallidohirta in 1905 (Can. Ent., 

 xxxvii, 359) from two female specimens bred May 5 from 

 pupae collected in the Orange Mountains, New Jersey. The 

 supposed species is very unusual in appearance, the whole dor- 

 sal region of the abdomen being covered with grayish silvered 

 scales. One of the type specimens is in the U. S. National 

 Museum and has been often examined by us. It is an Acdes, 

 and it would seem as if other specimens should have occurred 

 among the early spring collecting during the last five years 

 if the species were really valid. But none have been found. 

 We have been suspicious of the species for this reason, and 

 also for its freakish appearance, but have been hitherto unable 

 to suggest any plausible explanation. We have, therefore, 

 been obliged unwillingly to list Acdes pallidohirta as a valid 

 species known only by the two type specimens. 



Recently, however, light has been thrown upon the matter 

 from a most unexpected quarter. A lot of mosquitoes in alco- 

 hol were submitted to us for determination, collected by a 

 correspondent of the U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital 

 Service in Malaga, Spain. Two species were contained in the 

 sending, which we were enabled to positively identify by the 

 male genitalia as Cnlex pipiens Linn, and Acdes calopus. Meig. 

 Of the latter, several specimens were taken from the alcohol 

 and dried, when, to our surprise, three females exhibited the 

 abdomen suffused with dull silvery all over the dorsum, while 

 two males were normally marked. These females possess the 

 peculiar scaling on the clypeus absolutely diagnostic of the spe- 

 cies, even when the thoracic markings are lost, but of the lyre- 

 shaped marking there are distinct traces in one specimen, 

 though on a very light ground. The palpi are broadly silver- 

 scaled at the tip; the leg markings are normal; in one specimen 

 the abdomen is silvery gray on the sides, but the lateral spots 

 still show as a brighter silvery; in another there are some black 

 scales laterally, especially around these spots, most numerous 

 on the posterior segments. The identity of the species is, there- 

 fore, perfectly obvious in this case, while the conclusion is 

 justified that the silvery suffusion of the abdomen is not a 

 specific character in Acdes. Moreover, it is not even truly 

 varietal, but in the nature of an aberration or a freak. 



Applying this conclusion to Aedes pallidohirta > it is easy to 

 recognize in the supposed species merely a freakish specimen 



