﻿SOLOMON ISLANDS TRIPTEROIDES — BELKIN 271 



Taxonomic discussion. — This larva is so distinct from any previously 

 described Tripteroides in the Australasian region that the author be- 

 lieves it advisable to name it. Only two other species in this region, 

 namely dlhoscutellata Lee and furpurata (Edwards) , have larvae with 

 lateral sclerotized comb plates in combination with metathoracic spines 

 but lacking mesothoracic spines. Both of these have heavily pig- 

 mented stellate tufts characteristic of the described larvae of the sub- 

 genus Tripteroides. The stellate tufts of -floridensis are so poorly 

 pigmented that they are not obvious unless examined under a micro- 

 scope. The structure of the comb teeth is furthermore very different 

 from alboscutellata (about 18 blunt-ended teeth) and purpurata (30 

 or more very slender, closely set spines). The general appearance 

 of -floridensis larvae suggests a member of the subgenus Mimeteomyia. 

 Only atnpes (Skuse), solomonis (Edwards), and punctolateralis 

 (Theobald) possess lateral comb plates in this subgenus. They are 

 immediately distinguished by their mesothoracic spines. The cale- 

 donica-group of this subgenus shows the nearest approach to this type 

 of larva but none of the described species have comb plates. It seems 

 best then not to assign -floridensis to any of the subgenera for the 

 present. 



There is a remote possibility that floridensis may be the larva of 

 distignia (Edwards), which is known only from a single female de- 

 scribed from the Florida group of islands. Yet distigma appears to 

 be closely related to hhiotata and lipovskyi^ both of which have typical 

 Tripteroides larvae, and one would not expect such radical departure 

 from this type of larva in a closely related species. A further possi- 

 bility is that floridensis is not a Tripteroides at all but is in reality a 

 Harpagomyia or a Topomyia. These genera are so poorly known at 

 the present time that no definite characters to distinguish their larvae 

 are available, but floridensis is amply distinct from all species whose 

 immature stages have been described. It is hoped that further col- 

 lecting and rearing of material in the Solomons will settle this question. 



Biology. — Although there is little information available on the bi- 

 ology of this species other than the larval habitat given above for the 

 type series, that in itself is of considerable interest. On Guadalcanal, 

 leaf-axils of various species of wild bananas and plantains were ex- 

 amined frequently for mosquito larvae. None was ever found. The 

 collection of the larvae of this species came from a single axil while a 

 great number of others were examined without results. Examples of 

 Aedes albildbris (Edwards) were also found in this axil. It is hoped 

 that a more thorough search in these plants, as well as Heliconias, may 

 reveal additional species of Tripteroides in the Solomons. 



Distribution. — Solomon Islands: Florida: Halavo (Knight Coll. 

 No. 839 [U. S. N. M.]. 



