They are day fliers and both sexes are flower-feeders in the adult stage and do 
not suck blood. The larvae are ver^Large, as well as being predacious and can¬ 
nibalistic. They breed in small confined collections of water such as may occur 
in bamboo stems, tree holes, pitcher plants and the like. 
The "tropicopolitan" genus Toxorhinchites ( Kegarhinus ) has been used in an 
effort to control Aedes ( Stegomvia ) albopictus in Hawaii. This attempt first 
began in 1929, when Dr. C. E. Pemberton first introduced T. inomatus (Walker) 
from New Britain. However, according to a report by Bonnet and Hu in 1951, no 
field recoveries had been reported in n recent years 11 . Subsequent introductions 
of Toxorhinchites are summarized as follows: 
Species 
Date of introduction 
Area brought from 
T. brevipalais 
T. theobaldi 
T. amboinensis 
August 1950 
November 27, 1953 
December 1, 1953 
(on or about) 
Johannesburg 
Ft. Clayton, Panama 
Manila 
theobaldi was found to be difficult to rear in laboratory cultures. 
Therefore, this species was discontinued. The field release of T. brevipalpis 
and T. amboinensis took place between 1950 to 1957. The releases were initially 
limited to the island of Oahu/ however, in June 1954,' field releases were extended 
to the neighbor islands. 
Toxorhinchites has been highly successful in establishing itself in areas of 
refuse dumps where high rainfall occurs. Both T. brevipalois andT. amboinensis 
have established themselves well on Oahu and Kauai. Whereas T. brevipalpis seems 
to have established itself to a much lesser degree on Hawaii and there is some 
indication that T. inomatus is found to a slight degree on Kauai. According to a 
report by Bonnet and Hu, published in 1951, no field recoveries of T. inomatus had 
been reported around this time. However, according to Dr. Joyce, one specimen was 
found on Oahu last year (1967) in Kaneohe. 
The effectiveness of this predator in controlling the population of A. 
albopictu s is questionable. 
