﻿240 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. lOO 



Bay (A. B. Gurney, C. R. Bruck) [U.S.N.M.]. Treasury: Sterling 

 Island, November 1, 1943 (K. L. Knight, No. 861) [U.S.N.M.]. 



TRIPTEROIDES (MIMETEOMYIA) SOLOMONIS (Edwards) 



FiGUBES 33, f, i ; 34, & ; 36, e; 37, c 



Rachionotomyia solo'monis Edwards, 1924, p. 363; 1925, p. 257; 1926, p. 109. — 



Paine and Edwards, 1929, p. 308. 

 T. (Mimeteomyia) solomonis Edwards, 1932, p. 77. 

 T. (M.) solomonis (Edw.), Lee, 1944, p. 20; 1946, p. 264. 

 T. solomonis (Edw.) Knight, Bohart, and Bohart, 1944, p. 20. 



Figures (larva) : Paine and Edwards, 1929, p. 309 (maxilla, thorax, terminal seg- 

 ments of abdomen) ; Lee, 1944, p. 20 (terminal abdominal segments). 



Holotype female caught in house, Tulagi, Guadalcanal Island 

 [should be Florida group], July 1923 (Dr. A. G. Garment) [British 

 Museum (Natural History)]. 



distinctive characters. — Adults : Unornamented. Outstanding 

 wing scales all narrow on dorsal surface. Proboscis stout, shorter 

 than abdomen. Scutal vestiture very dark ; head and abdomen dark, 

 with purplish-blue gloss. Male palpi 0.T5 to 0.80 of proboscis, female 

 palpi, 0.15 of proboscis. Abdomen with triangular lateral white spots. 

 Ninth tergite of male with a single row of four to six long bristles on 

 each lobe. 



Larvae: Mesothoracic and metathoracic spines present. Maxilla 

 without terminal spines. Thorax and abdomen with numerous ex- 

 tremely large stellate tufts. Comb scales arising from a sclerotized 

 plate, ventral comb scales smaller, arising independently of plate, large 

 scales pointed. Siphon dark, index 2.5 to 3, apex about half the 

 width of base. Pecten of four or five teeth, usually restricted to basal 

 two-thirds. 



Description of male. — Wing : 2-3 mm. 



Head : Proboscis 1.2 of front femur, about 0.90 of abdomen, rather 

 stout, dark-scaled. Palpi 0.76 of proboscis, slender, dark-scaled; 

 terminal segment with several long dark bristles at apex. Clypeus 

 dark brown, bare. Antenna 0.80 to 0.85 of proboscis, torus rugosely 

 pollinose, dark ; flagellar whorls very dense ; first flagellar segment with 

 rather long, narrow, light scales ; penultimate segment equal to about 

 four preceding segments, with long hairs; terminal segment 0.75 of 

 penultimate, with short pubescence. Vertex clothed with broad, ap- 

 pressed, dark scales except for lateral white patches and a narrow, but 

 conspicuous, white line along eye margins. Occipital scales all dark, 

 rather long. 



Thorax: Scutal integument very dark; thick, shaggy vestiture of 

 rather narrow, long, curved, appressed, dark, bronzy scales, a con- 

 spicuous patch of broader, pure white scales in supraalar area, a small 



