A New Species of Culex (Melanoconion) from Bolivia and Ecuador (Diptera: Culicidae)

Culex (Melanoconion) penai, a new species from Bolivia and Ecuador is recognized. The adult male, the only known stage of this species, is described and the male genitalia are illustrated. In a recent study of the Culex (Melanoconion) material from the very extensive collection for the project "Mosquitoes of Middle America," initiated in 1963 by John N. Belkin and his colleagues at the Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, a number of adult males were found with genitalia strikingly different from all other known members of the subgenus. This material consists of 1 male (BOL 47) collected by Torres Munioz in Bolivia in 1944 and 6 males (ECU8, ECU9) collected by Luis E. Pena G. in Ecuador in 1965. Sandra J. Heinemann, who curated the collection, had provisionally identified these specimens as Culex (Mel.) sp. 25. Subsequent study of the associated genitalia slides by the author at the Medical Entomology Project has finally led to the conclusion that this material represents a distinct new species. I take pleasure in dedicating this new species to the eminent Chilean entomologist, Luis E. Pena G., whose collection from Ecuador yielded numerous specimens for future taxonomic work on Neotropical mosquitoes.
Pub. in Mosquito Systematics, v11 n2, p135-138, 1979.