Uranotaenia in Solomon Islands — B elkin 
Taxonomic Discussion 
Uranotaenia civinskii is closely related to IJ. 
arg^rotarsis Leicester, 1908, from Malaya, with 
which it has been confused in the past. The 
only other name proposed to date for mem- 
bers of this complex is Tseudouranotaenia pa- 
rangensis Ludlow in Theobald, 1910, from the 
Philippines, synonymized by Edwards (1922: 
460) with JJ. arg^rotarsis. Edwards (1929: 
312-313) recognized a single male specimen 
from Guadalcanal as being a variety of U. 
arg^rotarsis on the basis of the white-scaling 
of the hind tarsus embracing the apex of seg- 
ment 2, but in his catalog (Edwards, 1932: 
98) he no longer listed the Solomons material 
as distinct from typical U. arg^rotarsis. Baisas 
(1935: 65) found Philippine specimens, pre- 
sumably conspecific with P. parangensis, agree- 
ing with the description of the Solomons male 
in the coloration of the hind tarsus. 
Leicester’s original description of U. argiro- 
tarsis (1908: 214-215) did not mention the 
characteristic, although inconspicuous, mod- 
ification of the hind tibia of the male. Ed- 
wards (1929: 313), in comparing the Solo- 
mons male, noted this characteristic on 
Leicester’s type specimen, and Baisas men- 
tions it in the Philippine material. It appears, 
therefore, that the three geographical forms 
belong to the same species complex. No 
other species with such a modification of the 
hind tibia in the male has been described from 
the Australasian or Oriental regions. In the 
Ethiopian region, U. pallidocephala Theobald, 
1908, has a similar but more complex modi- 
fication of the base of the hind tibia, but this 
species is markedly different in a multitude 
of characters. 
U. civinskii differs in the adult stage from 
the typical U. argirotarsis from Malaya in the 
following characters: hind tarsus white-scaled 
from apex of segment 2 in both sexes; ab- 
dominal light-scaling usually absent or great- 
ly reduced on segment 1 in the female as well 
as in the male; hind tibia of female with a 
light subapical patch on external face. It 
agrees with the Philippine material in the 
349 
first character but apparently disagrees in the 
other two. 
The larval stage has not been described 
from Malaya, and the description of Philip- 
pine material (Baisas, 1935: 65) is not suffi- 
ciently detailed to separate U. civinskii. The 
characters mentioned by Baisas fall within 
the range of variation of IJ. civinskii. 
The pupal stage of members of this com- 
plex has been figured for Philippine material 
by Knight and Chamberlain (1948: 9, fig. 15) 
and described and figured for New Guinea 
material by Penn (1949: 33-35, fig. 18). Al- , 
though the figures agree in general features, 
there is a marked difference in hair l-II and 
many minor differences in branching. Penn’s 
material agrees with the Solomons specimens 
in having hair l-II secondarily branched 
whereas it is only primarily branched in the 
Philippine specimen. There are differences too 
between the New Guinea and Solomons ma- 
terial, the principal being the greater number 
of branches of hair l-III, the greater length 
of hairs 4-V-VII, and the absence of a con- 
spicuous external angle on the paddle in the 
Solomons form. 
On the basis of the above-mentioned dif- 
ferences, D. civinskii appears to be quite dis- 
tinct from members of the JJ. argirotarsis 
complex from Malaya, Philippines, and New 
Guinea. Whether or not forms from the latter 
two regions are distinct from the typical U. 
argirotarsis remains to be determined when 
more material is available, but it appears that 
they will prove to be distinct. 
Biologi 
U. civinskii is predominantly a jungle- 
stream breeder, utilizing side pools and rock 
pools in stream beds in preference to other 
habitats. It apparently requires fresh, well- 
oxygenated, clear water because, if it is found 
in swamps or small pools, these are usually 
fed by springs or are in seepage areas. Be- 
cause of this requirement it is difficult to rear 
under artificial conditions. It is usually found 
in densely shaded areas, but when flushed 
