Simuliidae (Diptera: Culicomorpha) of rarotonga, cook islands, south pacific

Abstract

Two new simuliids from Rarotonga, Cook Islands are described. Simulium (Inseliellum) teruamanga sp. n. is fully characterised and is cyto- logically related to Marquesas Islands simuliids. For S. (I.) mataverense sp. n., only a single larva and pupal exuviae are known. The larva has been karyotyped and is cytologically related to Tahitian simuliids. Mouthparts of the female S. teruamanga are rudimentary, suggesting they are non-blood feeding. Little is known of the biology of either species, but larvae of S. teruamanga are commonly found between leaves in leaf packs on the upstream side of rocks. © 1986 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.