The Tripteroides caledonica Complex of Mosquitoes in Melanesia 
(Diptera: Culicidae) 
John N. Belkin 1 
INTRODUCTION 
Edwards (1922: 100-101) described Tripter- 
oides caledonica (as Rachionotomyia ) from one 
male and one female bred from a Nepenthes 
pitcher, Houailou, New Caledonia, July 31 
and Aug. 1, 1914 (Paul D. Montague). No 
larvae, pupae or exuviae were apparently pre- 
served. Until the present study was practically 
completed no additional specimens had been 
collected from Nepenthes but T. " caledonica ’ 
had been reported by several workers as 
breeding in tree holes, coconut husks and 
shells, artificial containers, and leaf axils of 
various plants in New Caledonia, the Loyalty 
Islands and the New Hebrides. Buxton and 
Hopkins (1927: 76) reported that some of 
their specimens collected in the New Hebrides 
were marked by Edwards as a variety of 
caledonica . Perry (1946: 13) noted a great deal 
of variation in the larval stage of this "species” 
in the New Hebrides, and Knight (1953, in 
lit.) suspected that specimens bred from ba- 
nana axils from these islands represented a 
distinct form. Recently, Dr. E. N. Marks 
noted marked differences in the larval mate- 
rial, presumably of this species, collected by 
Miss E. Cheesman in flower bracts of palms 
in New Caledonia, and in a tree hole in 
Araucaria cookii in the Loyalty Islands, and 
expressed the opinion that the two forms were 
subspecifically distinct (Mattingly, 1952, in 
lit). 
Since all the species of Tripteroides known 
to breed in Nepenthes are restricted to this 
1 Department of Entomology, University of Cali- 
fornia at Los Angeles. Manuscript received August 2, 
1954. 
specialized habitat (Baisas and Ubaldo-Pa- 
gayon, 1952: 17-22), it appeared that there 
might be a complex of sibling species mis- 
identified under the name of T. caledonica. 
To clarify this situation I undertook to study 
the specimens from the British Museum (Nat. 
Hist.) through the courtesy of Dr. P. F. 
Mattingly, as well as all material identified 
as caledonica in the collections of the U. S. 
National Museum through the courtesy of 
Dr. E. A. Chapin and Dr. Alan Stone. 
After this study was completed, I received 
additional material collected in the New He- 
brides and the Belep group by Dr. and Mrs. 
Marshall Laird under the auspices of the 
Royal New Zealand Air Force and the New 
Zealand Department of Scientific and Indus- 
trial Research. Finally I was fortunate in en- 
listing the co-operation of Mr. L. J. Dumble- 
ton of the South Pacific Commission, Noumea, 
New Caledonia. Mr. Dumbleton obtained 
typical T. caledonica material from Nepenthes 
pitchers. It is gratifying to note that the 
conclusions reached before this material be- 
came available did not need to be modified 
to any extent. 
I wish to express my thanks to the above- 
mentioned individuals and agencies for the 
opportunity to study this most interesting 
complex of mosquitoes. I am also indebted 
to William A. McDonald, Lee R. Brown, and 
Roy Pence, of the Department of Entomol- 
ogy, University of California, Los Angeles, 
for assistance in this study. 
The material examined leaves much to be 
desired, since not a single progeny rearing is 
represented and only a few individual pupal 
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