104 MOSQUITOES OP NORTH AMERICA 



WYEOMYIA ABLABES Dyar & Knab. 



Wyeomyia ablabes Dyar & Knab, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxxv, 66, 1908. 

 Wyeomyia ablabes Theobald, Mon. Culic, v, 626, 1910. 



OBiomAL Desceiption op Wyeomyia ablabes : 



Female. — Proboscis long and slender, somewhat enlarged towards the apex, black- 

 sealed; palpi black-scaled; occiput dark-scaled, with blue and green reflections, the 

 margin of the eyes narrowly whitish scaled and forming a distinct silver spot on the 

 vertex; prothoracic lobes dark-scaled, with violaceous luster, the tips silvery-scaled; 

 mesonotum dark-scaled, with faint bronzy and blue reflections; pleura silvery white- 

 scaled; abdomen black-scaled above, with slight blue and bronzy reflections, beneath 

 white-scaled, the colors separated on the sides in a straight line; legs dark-scaled, 

 with bronzy and blue luster; on the middle legs the extreme apex of the second tarsal 

 joint and all of the third and fourth white beneath; on the hind legs the fourth and 

 fifth tarsal joints are white beneath except at their extreme apices. Length, 3.5 mm. 



Male. — Resembles the female in coloration. 



Eighteen specimens, selected from a series, Cordoba, Mexico, bred from larvae in 

 water between the leaves of bromeliaceous plants. (F. Knab.) 



Tj/pe.— Cat. No. 11986, U. S. N. M. 



Desceiption of Femai^, Mai^, and Labva of Wyeomyia abi.abeb: 



Female. — Proboscis moderate, tip somewhat expanded, labella small, 

 rounded, with fine outstanding setae; vestiture bluish black, paler bronzy 

 beneath. Palpi short, flattened, one-sixth as long as proboscis, bronzy black. 

 Antennae moderate, the joints slender, subequal, rugose, coarsely pilose, black; 

 tori subspherical, with a cup-shaped apical excavation, brown, with a slight 

 pruinosity; hairs of whorls long, rather sparse, black. Clypeus rounded, con- 

 vex, dark brown, pruinose. Eyes separated at the vertex by a narrow wedge, 

 bluish black. Occiput clothed with flat brown scales with a bronzy and blue 

 reflection, a continuous white margin behind the eyes joining a large white 

 patch at lower part of sides ; a row of setae along margin of eyes, two long ones 

 at vertex. 



Prothoracic lobes elliptical, distinctly separated, clothed with flat black scales 

 with bronzy violaceous luster, the tip rather broadly and base silvery white. 

 Mesonotum clothed with elliptical, flat dark-brown scales with a bronzy and 

 blue reflection; scales on front margin and below lateral angles whitish; hairs 

 over root of wing dark brown. Scutellum trilobate, with the vestiture similar 

 to and continuous with that of the mesonotum, each lobe with a small tuft 

 of black bristles. Postnotum elliptical, prominent, with a broad, flat median 

 carina, dark brown, a group of small setae near posterior margin. Pleurae 

 brown, coxae luteous, clothed with elliptical, flat silvery-white scales. 



Abdomen subcylindrical, compressed, truncate apically, and with many long, 

 dark-brown terminal seta ; dorsal vestiture black with a bronzy and blue reflec- 

 tion; venter yellowish white, colors separated at sides in a straight line. 



Wings moderate, hyaline; petiole of second marginal cell less than half as 

 long as its cell, that of second posterior cell nearly as long as its cell ; basal cross- 

 vein distant less than its own length from the anterior cross- vein; scales of 

 veins dense, moderate, ligulate, black, with a slight bronzy reflection on the 

 costa, densest and broadest towards tip of wing. Halteres whitish with black 

 knobs. 



Legs rather long atnd slender, black, with a bronzy reflection, the femora 

 yellowish silvery beneath ; tibiae brassy beneath, tarsi with a pale-bronzy luster 

 below; mid tarsi with tip of second, and all of last three joints silvery white 

 on outer side; hind tarsi with white marks at bases of first to third joints, fourth 

 and fifth joints white beneath, except tip of fourth joint. Claw formula, 

 0.0-0.0-0.0. 



Length : Body about 3 mm. ; wing 3 mm. 



