CO129-538-2 Hong Kong University 23-6-1932 - 15-3-1933 — Page 139

195

196

210

R. B. JACKSON

suck blood but will partake of juices of fruits. There is a mosquito called Megarhinus splendens whose larvæ are cannibal-it is found in Hong Kong and is of a very large size with scales of a brilliant colour, its proboscis The female instead of being straight is bent like a pot hook in both sexes. does not suck blood. Arising from the head and flanking the proboscis, one These vary in on either side of it, are two jointed structures called palps. length and shape according to sex and species.

PROBOSCIS

A Brief Account of Mosquitoes

211

The abdomen consists of nine visible segments in the female it ends in a pair of blunt processes known as cerci which serve as ovipositors which are used for directing the egg as it is being laid, in the male the abdomen ends in a pair of claspers. The mosquito is ornamented with hairs, bristles, and

PALFS.

BOSCIS

ANTENNAE

PROBOSCIS

ANTENNAE

ANTENNAE

PALPS-

LEYES

THORAX

ABDOMEN

PALPS

PALFS

Culicine male

Culicine female

PROBOSCIS

PROBOSCIS

B

PALPS

ANTENNAE

Diagram of Mosquito,

In the Anopheline mosquitoes of Hong Kong the palps are as long as the proboscis, and in the male Anopheles the ends of the palps are swollen or clubbed. In Culicine mosquitoes the palps are usually short in the female and long in the male. On the thorax are a pair of wings, behind these are a pair of club-shaped structures called halteres, the remains of a former pair of wings. The three pairs of legs are attached to the thorax,

The Hong Kong Naturalist.

Anopheline male

Anopheline female

Diagrams of heads of Mosquitoes,

scales of various descriptions. In some species the scales are plain, in others they are coloured accounting for spotting or marking of the wings, banding or spotting of the legs and banding of the abdomen thus helping in identifica- tion. In the resting position assumed by Anopheles the proboscis, thorax, and abdomen are in a straight line, the Culicine mosquito when resting assumes a hump backed position,

December 1932.