262 American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 3 



spinose and that beyond constriction darker and with fewer spines; antennal 

 tuft large, multiple, barbed, inserted at outer third, reaching considerable be- 

 yond tip of antenna. Head hairs: Preantennal (A) multiple, barbed; lower 

 (B) long, single; upper (C) a small 5 to 6-branched tuft; postclypeal (d) 

 small, single; sutural (e) usually multiple; trans-sutural (f) and supraorbital 

 usually double. Body finely spicular. Comb of eighth segment of numerous 

 scales in a patch; individual scale rounded apically and fringed with subequal 

 spinules. Siphon slender, seven to eight times as long as basal width; pecten of 

 numerous teeth reaching beyond basal third of siphon; individual tooth fringed 

 on one side nearly to tip; four or five multiple subventral tufts inserted beyond 

 pecten, the basal tuft longer than width of siphon; three or more minute tufts 

 inserted dorso-laterally on siphon. Anal segment longer than wide, completely 

 ringed by the dorsal plate; lateral hair small, double; dorsal brush consisting of 

 a long lower caudal hair and a shorter 5-branched upper caudal tuft on either 

 side; ventral brush large, posterior to the dorsal plate; gills 4, shorter than the 

 segment. 



DISTRIBUTION. — Boca Chica Key, Florida (154); Greater Antilles and 

 Virgin Islands. 



BIONOMICS. — Dyar (54) states that Culex atratus breeds in ground pools. 



CuLEX (Melanoconion) erraticus (Dyar and Knab) 



Melanoconion atralus Dyar (not Culcx alraius Theobald, 1901), 1905, Jour. N. Y. Ent. 



Soc, 13:26. 

 Culex erralicus King and Bradley, 1937. Ann Ent. Soc. Amer., 30:345 (additional 



synonymy given). 



ADULT FEMALE. — Small species. Head: Proboscis long, dark, slightly 

 swollen at tip; palpi very short, dark. Occiput with large central portion clothed 

 with dark erect forked scales and numerous brown to golden-brown lanceolate 

 scales; antero-dorsal and lateral portions with broad appressed scales, the antero- 

 dorsal ones predominantly brown with bronze or metallic blue-green reflection, 

 the lateral ones predominantly dingy- white. Cibarial armature consisting of 7 

 or 8 teeth (122). Thorax: Integument of scutum dark brown, clothed with 

 lanceolate golden-brown scales (the scales usually paler and coarser than those 

 of C. peccator and C. pilosus) . Abdomen: Tergites dark-brown scaled, usually 

 with bronze to metallic blue-green reflection; white basal patches present later- 

 ally (occasionally narrow white basal bands present on some segments). 

 Sternites each white-banded basally, the band joining the tergal patch of white 

 scales on either side; dark apically. Legs: All legs dark scaled with bronze to 

 metallic blue-green reflection, except for pale inner surfaces of femora. Wing: 

 Scales all dark. Plume scales narrow; squame scales broader, ligulate to ovate. 



ADULT MALE — Coloration similar to that of female, terminalia (Fig. 

 146). Lobes of ninth tergite (IXT-L) large, ovoid, approximate at bases, 

 widely divergent apically, clothed with numerous prominent smooth setae aris- 

 ing from distinct tubercles. Tenth sternite (X-S) crowned with a comb-like 

 row of blunt spines. Phallosome (Ph) of two elongate plates connected basal- 

 ly; each plate with a short stout apical tooth, a strong slender subapical tooth 

 on outer margin, and a stout ventro-lateral tooth at basal third; base of each 



