THE MOSQUITOES OF THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES 41 



CULEX CORNIGER Theob. 



This is a tropical species that has been reported but once from 

 southern Florida (Knights Key) (lft '). 5 



CULEX ERRATICUS D. and K. 



(Syn., C. egberti D. and K, C. peribleptus D. and K., C. pose D. and K., C. degustator 

 Dyar, C. leprincei D. and K., 0. homeopas D. and L., etc. ; also C. abominator D. and 

 K., in part, and in the United States references to C. inhibitator Dyar (not D. and K.) 

 and Melanoconion atratus Dyar (not Theob.)) 



The name erraticus is adopted by the writers as the correct name 

 for the common Melanoconion of the Southern States. This species 

 has in recent years been known as inhibitator because of the 

 synonymy published by Dyar (41, p. 317), but a review of the 

 original descriptions has shown that the larval and male characters 

 of the United States form are distinct from those of the Santo 

 Dominican species (77). The description and illustration of the 

 male genitalia given by Dyar (41, p. 300) for erraticus belong to 

 abominator D. and K., a species that is known only from Texas. 



The larvae of Gulex erraticus are found in grassy permanent pools 

 and swampy places, especially those having a growth of duckweed 

 (Lemna). The egg raft is sometimes laid on the upper surface of 

 the Lemna frond, although it is not known whether this is the usual 

 habit. The larvae are taken frequently in association with Anopheles 

 larvae. The species occurs throughout the South. 



The United States species of the subgenus Melanoconion cannot at 

 present be distinguished with certainty in the adult stage except by 

 characters of the male terminalia. Since erraticus is the commonest 

 one of the group, biting records for Melanoconion females are usually 

 assumed to apply to this species. Female specimens having a limited 

 area of flat scales and a large triangular patch of narrow scales on 

 the occiput can be identified with some assurance as erraticus. 



Melanoconion adults have been obtained in large numbers in light- 

 trap collections in Florida, and examinations of male specimens have 

 shown both erraticus and pilosus, principally the former, to be pres- 

 ent. Females, probably all erraticus, have been taken in Florida and 

 Louisiana while biting out of doors at night, but usually in small 

 numbers when compared with the abundance of the larvae. The 

 writers' observations at Mound indicated that the species had a pref- 

 erence for the blood of fowls, attacking them on the roosts at night. 

 According to Thibault (114), Culex abominator (probably erraticus 

 as now known) was the most abundant and annoying species in the 

 woods in the vicinity of Scott, Ark., especially at dusk and early in 

 the morning, but continuing to bite throughout the day. Horsfall 

 (62, 63) did not find them of importance in southeastern Arkansas in 

 1935 or 1936, although he reported them as occurring in enormous 

 numbers in rice fields in association with Psorophora species in 1936. 



5 Larvae and reared adults of a species of Culex that has proved to be Culex bahamensis 

 D. and K. have recently been received from F. W. Fisk from Key West, Fla. It is there- 

 fore probable that the species originally recorded as C. corniger was actually this species, 

 as the adults of the two have similar markings. The larvae and male genitalia, however, 

 are quite distinct. 



