Includes several large Culicines, of which T. annulata, Meigen, is the type. The wings are usually spotted (annulata, incidens, etc.), but may be nearly plain (spathipalpis). The males have the palpi swollen apically, and the females have long five-jointed palps.
Several of these are vicious biters.
Theobaldia annulata, Meigen.
This large gnat (6 mm. long) can be told by its wings having five large spots of dark scales and by its legs having broad basal white bands to the tarsi. The larvæ occur in rain barrels and small pools. It is essentially a domestic form, occurring in houses and privies. Its distribution is Europe generally and North America. The bite is very severe, and in some districts gives rise to painful œdema.[392]
Theobaldia spathipalpis, Rondani, occurs in Italy, Mediterranean Islands, Palestine, the Himalayas, Khartoum, and in South Africa. It is about the same size as T. annulata, but is yellowish-brown in colour, with striped thorax and mottled and banded legs. It occurs in privies and bites very severely.
Genus. Culex, Linnæus.
“Syst. Nat. Ed.,” 1758, x, Linnæus; “Mono. Culicid.,” 1901, i, p. 326; 1910, v, p. 322, Theobald.
Fig. 400.—Wing of a Culex.