196 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



narrowly annulate with silvery white, those on the posterior tarsi 

 broad, the- most of the fourth and fifth segments yellowish white. 

 Ovipositor about one-half the length of the abdomen; terminal 

 lobes long, narrowly rounded. Type Cecid. SL1477. 



1907 Felt, E. P. 

 1908 



moseheutos, 



Neolasioptera hibisci Felt 



N. Y. Stats Mus. Bui. no, p. 155-56 (Choristoneura) 

 N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 124, p. 333 



This brightly marked midge was reared April 25, 1907 from 

 slightly enlarged stems of the rose marshmallow, Hibiscus 

 taken on Staten Island, N. Y. The larvae occur 

 singly or in numbers in the pith, and occasion- 

 ally in the outer portions of the tissues. One 

 stalk may be inhabited by only a few larvae, 

 or may contain 50 to 100 or more. 



Gall. Infested stems can usually be discerned 

 by a somewhat abnormal thickening, though 

 occasionally a badly infested stem may be nearly 

 twice the usual size. The female appears to 

 deposit eggs in a small slit in the stem, the larva 

 usually tunneling the pith and frequently exca- 

 vating a channel just beneath the surface, figure 



35- 



Larva. Length 4 mm, rather stout, light yel- 

 lowish. Head small; antennae uniarticulate, 

 slender, tapering; breastbone stout, somewhat 

 expanded apically, bidentate and with a rudi- 

 mentary median tooth; skin finely shagreened; 

 posterior extremity broadly rounded. 



Male. Length 1.75 mm. Antennae dark brown; 

 16 segments, the fifth with a length a little less 

 than its diameter ; terminal segment slightly pro- 

 duced, subglobose. Palpi; the first and second 

 segments irregularly subquadrate, slightly swollen 

 distally, the third a little longer, narrowly 

 rounded, the fourth twice the length of the pre- 

 ceding, more slender; face fuscous with a patch 

 of silvery scales. Mesonotum dark brown, nar- 

 rowly and irregularly margined laterally with 

 golden yellow scales, the submedian lines rather 

 thickly clothed with golden yellow hairs. Scutel- 

 lum dark brown, scatteringly ornamented with 

 silvery white scales and with a few long setae apically, postscutellum 

 dark brown. Abdomen a dark brown or black with submedian rows 

 of somewhat irregular, sublunate, silvery white spots, a pair on the 

 posterior margin of segments one to six or seven, those on the distal 

 segments smaller and less distinct. Wings hyaline, costa dark brown, 



Fig. 35 Neo- 

 lasioptera hi- 

 bisci, portion 

 of swollen ste;r. 

 showing larval 

 galleries and exit 

 holes, enlarged 

 (original) 



