Uranotaenia in Solomon Islands — Belkin 
Henry F. Sexauer, who, in addition to his 
duties in operating a parasitological labora- 
tory, found time to contribute to the mos- 
quito survey of Guadalcanal. 
Variation 
Among the small number of adult speci- 
mens available there is no marked departure 
from the holotype and allotype except for the 
extremely variable light-scaling of the fore 
and mid tarsi and less extensive variation in 
the coloration of the pleural and lateral scutal 
integument. 
The variation in the chaetotaxy of imma- 
ture stages is summarized in Tables 1 and 2. 
The range of variation in branching of the 
hairs of the larva is considerable but less than 
in U. solomonis. In the pupa the branching 
shows much less variation. 
The six adults from Bougainville show no 
striking differences from the Guadalcanal ma- 
terial. The Bougainville larvae also fall within 
the same range of variation. 
Specimens examined: 12M; 15F; 13P; 87L. 
Individual rearings: 3 larval. 
Taxonomic Discussion 
Uranotaenia sexaueri is closely related to U. 
nivipes (Theobald, 1905) described from 
Queensland. A similar form, U. albofasciata 
Taylor, 1920, was described from Northern 
Territory, Australia, and has been synonym- 
ized with U. nivipes by Edwards (1924: 357). 
Neither original description mentioned the 
fact that the integument is broadly whitish 
on the lower part of the scutum and upper 
part of the pleuron and that this band is con- 
tinued over the anterior margin of the scutum 
but Edwards {loc. cit.), in comparing a para- 
type of Taylor’s species with the holotype of 
U. nivipes, noted the presence of this charac- 
teristic ornamentation in both forms. U. sex- 
aueri agrees in this character but is distin- 
guished by the extent of the white-scaling of 
the hind tarsus, about one half of segment 3 
being white whereas only the apex is white in 
U. nivipes, and the entire segment is white in 
365 
U. albofasciata. A further difference may be the 
presence of many dark scales in the lower half 
of the stp of U. sexaueri, a character not men- 
tioned in the other two forms. U. albofasciata 
is distinguished from U. nivipes and U. sexaueri 
in having the scutellar integument light in- 
stead of dark. I have seen a single female 
(New Guinea, APO 565, Jul. 5, 1944, E. S. 
Ross No. 40) which may represent another 
species in the nivipes- group. It differs from U. 
sexaueri in having the upper part of the pleural 
integument not distinctly white and the lower 
part of stp with a few scattered white scales 
only. 
The immature stages of both U. nivipes and 
U. albofasciata have not been described to date. 
Related to the above-mentioned Australa- 
sian forms are the Oriental U. nivea Leicester, 
1908, from Malaya and U. triangulata (Lud- 
low, 1908) from the Philippines. Edwards 
(1922: 460) synonymized these forms with 
U. nivipes but later (1932: 99) considered them 
both as representing a single variety of U. 
nivipes. Bohart (1945: 36) recognized U. nivea 
as a distinct species, retaining U. triangulata 
as a synonym. Whether or not these two forms 
are distinct from each other cannot be de- 
termined here, but they differ from the Aus- 
tralasian forms in having the scutal integu- 
ment uniformly dark (without the whitish 
lateral area), the pleura not distinctly whitish 
dorsally, and the sternopleural scales light in 
the center and dark above and below. U. 
sexaueri agrees with U. nivea and U. triangulata 
in the possession of numerous dark scales on 
the lower part of the sternopleuron, but ap- 
parently these scales are less numerous. 
Thus it appears that all the above-men- 
tioned forms are members of a complex, the 
nivipes- group, occurring in the Oriental and 
Australasian regions. U. orientalis Barraud, 
1926, from Assam, may be related to this 
group, but it has an entirely dark hind tarsus, 
and the head scaling is darker. U. sexaueri 
shows similarities to both the Oriental and 
the Australian forms but appears distinct from 
any of the species previously described. 
