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1943; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 152; Issue: 3853 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/152280b0

1476-4687

on to the upper part of the tarsus.The function of these paddles remains uncertain though they undoubtedly draw the eye to the individual mosquito when it is in flight.The adult Sabethines are diurnal and the females of most species bite both man and horse ; there is a record of a female biting a lizard.The males are not known to swarm, and Lane and .Cerqueira suggest that the sexes may be attracted to each other by their brilliant coloration in daylight.The male of Limatus durhami Theob .has been observed resting on a tree trunk with the proboscis bent upwards, thus exposing to view a bright blue patch of scales on the underside ; it is suggested that many of the other forms of ornamentation may be correlated with some habit that brings them into use for purposes of display.The larvre are found in the water gathered in the axils of the leaves of various water-hold,ing plants (Brom eliacere, Aracere, Muscacere, etc.), in water gathered in fallen leaves, husks of fallen fruits, tree holes, bamboo holes and other similar water-holding situations that abound in the tropical rain-forest.Limatus durhami appears to be unique in that it breeds in water collected in tins and broken vessels on abandoned rubbish tips as well as in water in fallen leaves; though thus occurring in p eri-domestic breeding places, this species does not occur in sufficient numbers to become a p .=st.Some species are restricted to special breeding habitats.W eomyia (Menolepis ) leucostigma (Lutz) breeds only in the axils of the leaves of 'tabua' (Typhacere), and the larvre of Weomyia (Dendromyia) melanocephala D. and S. are found in the leaf-axils of 'tabua', 'taioba', 'tinhorao' (Aracere) and occasionally in the internodes of bamboo.The insectivorous plants that hold fluid in their leaves harbour the larvre of some species.The abundance of the species does not seem to vary .much with the seasons as is the case with Anophelines and Culicines in the same district.Their seeming rarity is, of course, obviously due to the wide dispersal of their breeding places.Their total numbers over a wide area are probably very large, exceeding the populations of other mosquitoes that happen to be restricted to a domestic or semidomestic breeding habitat, though these latter species might appear in considerable concentrations in some small settlement in the jungle and so give the impression of being present in much larger numbers than the jungle-breeding Sabethines.Sanitarians and others concerned with the battle against yellow fever should n ow find themselves armed with a satisfactory tool for identifying the Sabethine mosquitoes of the N ew World, while systematists interested in the Culicidre will thank the authors for their services in collecting the available information, adding much that is new thereto, and in presenting it in a clear and pleasing format.The authors have expressed their intention to deposit paratypes of certain of their new species and other material in the British Museum (Natural History) as a return for the assistance rendered to them in the prosecution of their work by the late Dr. F.