﻿256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. loo 



They were not seen to feed on each other and were successfully reared 

 on artificial media. Their appearance suggests stonei and mathesoni 

 larvae, for their bodies are white, elongate, and inconspicuously, al- 

 though strongly, stellate. 



Distribution. — Solomon Islands : Guadalcanal: White River Valley 

 (M. Cohen, Winkler) [U.S.N.M., CU, JNB]. New Georgia: Segi 

 Point (C. O. Berg, No. 168) [U.S.N.M.]. Treasury: Sterling (K. L. 

 Knight, No. 861) [U.S.N.M.] 



TRIPTEROIDES (TRIPTEROIDES) LIPOVSKYI, new species 



FiGUKES 33, n, j ; 34, a ; 36, c, d ; 37, a, 6 



Rachionotomyia quasiornata Edwards, 1926, p. 109 (1 female, Marovovo Village, 



Guadalcanar, October 1, 1925). 

 T. (T.) quasiornata (in part) Edwards, 1932, p. 79. 

 Tripteroides quasiornata, Knight, Boh art, and Boh art, 1944, p. 18. 



Distinctive characters. — Adults: Head with azure scales uninter- 

 rupted centrally. Front and middle femora with silvery spots and 

 golden or silvery line. Thoracic integument orange; dorsocentral 

 bristles present ; scutal vestiture of narrow, dark scales only, in sharp 

 contrast to integument; abdomen with lateral silvery markings. 



Larvae : Maxilla normal, without apical spines. Mesothorax with 

 a pair of simple spines ; metathorax with pair of trifid spines. Stellate 

 tufts numerous, heavily pigmented. Comb' scales very numerous, set 

 close together, almost meeting on ventral surface. Siphon index 

 about 4 ; 12 to 14 dorsal tufts, mostly 2-branched ; 9 to 13 ventral tufts, 

 usually double. Pecten of about seven simple teeth. 



Description of male. — Wing : 3-3.5 mm. 



Head: Proboscis 1.3 of abdomen and almost 1.5 of front femur; 

 very slender, dark-scaled. Palpi extremely short, projecting beyond 

 clypeus for less than half its length, about 0.05 of proboscis; basal 

 segments light brown, terminal dark with light hairs. Clypeus yel- 

 lowish brown, bare. Antenna barely half as long as proboscis ; torus 

 orange, with a few light hairs ; jfirst flagellar segment with a few dark 

 scales; flagellar whorls sparse; terminal segments subequal, slightly 

 more than twice as long as the other segments, with dense pubescence. 

 Vertex clothed with broad appressed scales; azure blue on anterior 

 two-thirds expanded laterally ; black posteriorly ; erect occipital scales 

 all dark, rather long. 



Thorax: Integument yellow-orange. Scutal vestiture of sparse, 

 appressed, very slender, hairlike, bronzy-black scales in sharp con- 

 trast to integument ; three or four pairs of dorsocentral bristles, most 

 anterior pair near border of posterior pronotum ; usually two pairs of 

 prescutellars ; numerous bristles on anterior promontory and supra- 

 alar areas. Scutellar lobes sparsely covered with broad, appressed, 



