INSECUTOR INSCITI^ MENSTRUUS 69 



THE AMERICAN AEDES OF THE FUNCTOR 

 GROUP 



(Diptcra, Culicidce) 

 PLATE I 



By HARRISON G. DYAR 



It may be best to substitute the subgeneric name Ochlerotatus 

 for the group treated by me as Heteronycha (this article fol- 

 lows the one in Ins. Ins. Mens., viii, 106-120, 1920). The two 

 names differ in time of appearance only by page priority, 

 being actually simultaneous. The principal reason for the 

 change is to agree with European authors. Other reasons are : 

 Ochlerotatus was clearly defined by Lynch Arribalzaga with a 

 well-known type species {confirmatus Arrib. = scapularis 

 Rond.), while Heteronycha was ill-defined, the type species 

 dolosa consisting of males of Culex bonariensis Brethes and 

 females of Aedes lynchii Brethes. Again Ochlerotatus was 

 already used by Coquillett (1906), who referred Heteronycha 

 to the synonymy of Culex on the erroneous association of the 

 sexes made by Arribalzaga. Finally by the first reviser prin- 

 ciple, the type of Heteronycha was fixed to the Ctdex element 

 by the action of Theobald in 1901. 



The punctor group as defined by me (Ins. Itis. Mens., viii, 

 105, 1920) divides into two series, the punctor series proper, 

 in which the spine on the basal lobe of the side piece of the 

 male hypopygium is a normal spine, and the spencerii series, 

 in which this spine is modified. The first series is represented 

 in the north European fauna almost species by species ; the 

 second series is not represented in Europe at all, as far as 

 present researches show. 



The male hypopygium of all but two of the punctor series is 

 so similar that it would be advisable to treat them as local sub- 

 species, were it not for the fact that two forms, differing in 

 larvae and habits, occur in the same faunal region, fllying to- 

 gether. The subspecific conception cannot apply to such forms. 



