﻿104 ERNEST E, AUSTEN — NOTES ON AFRICAN BLOOD-SUCKING MIDGES 



Culicoides kingi, S p. n. (PL I, fig. 3). 



Q. — Length (7 specimens) just under 1 mm. to 1*25 mm.; length of wing 

 1 to 1/2 mm. 



Upper portion of head and dorsum of thorax olive-grey, latter with sepia-coloured 

 or dark brown markings ; abdomen in dried specimens which apparently had not fed 

 prior to being killed dirty waxen-white {except at posterior extremity, which is 

 infuscated) ;* abdomen in dried specimens which appear to have sucked blood before 

 being killed, isabella-coloured, sepia-coloured or clove-brown, paler at base or in some 

 specimens with an ill-defined paler area on proximal half, not extending to sides ; 

 icings with conspicuous markings, as shown in fig. 3 ; legs cream-buff or pale isabella- 

 coloured, with darker markings, knees dark brown, sharply defined and conspicuous. 



Head : vertex and upper part of occiput sparsely clothed with pale hairs ; eyes 

 narrowly separated ; palpi and proboscis light mummy-brown ; first and second 

 joints of antennae mummy-brown, remaining joints isabella-coloured. clothed 

 with pale hair. Thorax : markings on dorsum consisting of a pair of narrow, 

 admedian, longitudinal stripes, extending from front margin half-way to pre- 

 sutural groove or slightly further, and divergent at the tips ; between each 

 admedian stripe and lateral margin is a curved, claw-like mark behind and on the 

 inner side of the humeral region, and behind this a somewhat similar backwardly 

 directed mark ; tip of scutellum sometimes dark brown ; pleurae and pectus grey. 

 Wings smoke-grey, with pale (cream-coloured or hyaline) spots and blotches, as 

 shown in fig. 3 ; resting on costa are two dark blotches, which are darker than 

 remaining portions of grey area ; one of these, situated approximately in middle 

 of costal border, occupies the space between the distal extremities of the first and 

 third longitudinal veins and the costa, the other lies beyond it, at the commence- 

 ment of the distal third of the costal border ; when the wing is viewed against a 

 dark background these two blotches appear to be of approximately the same tint, 

 and but little darker than either of the other two grey blotches resting on the 

 costa ; when, however, the wing is examined against a light background, such as 

 a sheet of white paper, the blotch between the distal extremities of the first and 

 third longitudinal veins and the costa appears much darker than any other ; 

 extreme base of wing and anterior portions of light spots resting on costa more or 

 less cream-coloured, remaining light spots and blotches hyaline or nearly so ; 

 third longitudinal vein not connected by a cross-vein with first longitudinal, but 

 appearing to be completely fused with the latter when wing is merely examined 

 under a hand-lens or low-powered compound microscope ; under higher magnifi- 

 cation and by transmitted light, third longitudinal vein is seen to be separated 

 from, though closely adjacent to, first longitudinal, from its origin to point at 

 which it turns towards costa, where it becomes indistinct ; fork of fourth longi- 

 tudinal vein narrower and also longer than in case of Culicoides distinctipennis, 

 the bifurcation taking place before instead of beyond the middle of the wing ; 

 surface of the wing much less hairy than in C. distinctipennis, the larger hairs on 

 the surface, which are visible under a low-powered compound microscope, 



* In one of the para-types the abdomen, in addition to being dirty waxen- white except at the 

 posterior extremity, is distended and sac-like ; another para-type shows the same peculiarity, 

 though to a lesser degree. 



