248 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XII, July, 1958 
KEYS TO THE DARK-LEGGED Culex ( Culex ) 
of the South Pacific 
(excluding New Guinea) 
FEMALE ADULTS 
1 . Abdominal tergites with well-marked basal 
pale bands . 2 
Abdominal tergites with basal lateral pale 
spots only. C. atriceps Edw. 
2. Abdominal sternites with continuous dark 
apical bands 3 
Abdominal sternites with discontinuous 
median and apicolateral dark spots only 
(even these sometimes largely suppress- 
ed) 5 
3. Anterior surface of hind femur wholly or 
largely dark 4 
Anterior surface of hind femur extensively 
pale C. iyengari n.sp. 
4. Scutal integument pale with dark mark- 
ings; scutal scales very small, more or less 
unicolorous .C. marquesensis St. and R. 
Scutal integument very dark; scutal scales 
coarse, forming a golden or light-brown 
pattern on a dark ground 
C. pacificus Edw. 
5. New Zealand species only 
C. pervigilans Bergr. 
Australia, Tasmania, and New Caledonia 
. . .C. pipiens australicus Dobr. and Dr. 
Widespread in Pacific area 
C. pipiens fatigans Wied. 
C. pipiens australicus and C. p. fatigans are not 
constantly separable on external characters 
(Dobrotworsky and Drummond, 1953: 134) 
though the former is likely to be recognisably 
darker in general colouration in any particular 
locality. C. pervigilans also appears to be indis- 
tinguishable from these two (Edwards, 1924: 
396). Its anterior fork cell varies from about 
3.2 to 5.2 times the length of its stem. The 
colour of its mesonotal scaling is highly vari- 
able. The record of C.p. australicus from New 
Caledonia is the first from outside Australia 
and Tasmania. It is based on one male and 
three females bred from a batch of larvae col- 
lected by J.R. from rock pools in a stream bed 
near the bridge across the Ba River at Houailou 
on the east coast of New Caledonia on 9:vi: 
1955. Further details are to be published else- 
where by Marks and Rageau. 
FOURTH-STAGE LARVAE 
1. Head setae B and C single. 
C. marquesensis St. and R. 
These setae each with at least 3 branches. 2 
2. Siphonal index about 3.0 to 3.5; antenna 
about one-third of the length of the head; 
antennal tuft inserted only a little beyond 
halfway; upper caudal seta with at least 
10 branches . C. atriceps Edw. 
Siphonal index about 3.5 to 6.5; antenna 
at least half the length of the head; anten- 
nal tuft inserted at not less than two- 
thirds of the distance from base to apex; 
upper caudal seta with at most 3 branches 
3 
3. Median denticle of comb teeth greatly 
hypertrophied, much stouter than the del- 
icate lateral denticles . . C. pacificus Edw. 
Comb teeth with more or less uniform 
fringe 4 
4. Mentum with 6-9 teeth on either side of 
the main central tooth; siphonal index 
about 4.5 to 6.5 . 5 
Mentum with 10-14 teeth on either side 
of the central tooth; siphonal index about 
3.5 to 5.5... 6 
5. New Zealand only.C. pervigilans Bergr. 
Australia, Tasmania, and New Caledonia 
. . C. pipiens australicus Dobr. and Dr. 
6. Siphonal index about 3.5 to 5.0 . 
C. pipiens fatigans Wied. 
