Deinocerites magnus (Theobald 1901)

Deinocerites magnus (Theobald)

This is the only member of the genus Deinocerites known from the Lesser Antilles, and it has been collected on many of the islands, although these are the first records from Dominica. It ranges from Mona Island west of Puerto Rico to British Guiana, Surinam, and northern Brazil. The larvae breed in crabholes along the coast. Adults have been reported as entering houses and feeding on man in Surinam and as being attracted to horses in Brazil.

DOMINICA RECORDS.—Layou River Mouth, 15, 20 January 1965 (Wirth), 16 ♀ ; 11 February 1964 (Bray), 1 ♀ ; Macoucheri, 14 January, 5 March 1965 (Wirth), 3 ♀ ; Cabrits Swamp, 23 February 1965, light trap (Wirth), 45 ♀ ; 10–13 May 1965 (Davis), 7 ♀ ; Postsmouth, 2 March 1964 (Bray), 3 ♀ , 1–2 April 1966 (Gagné), 2 ♀ .

Dubious Record

Anopheles vestitipennis Dyar and Knab: Dyar (1928) listed Dominica in the distribution of this species, but this locality is not mentioned in any of the references that Dyar listed, and there have been no records of it from the island. No specimens have been found in the U.S. National Museum and it is possible that Dyar’s record was an error for two specimens from the Dominican Republic. The species is known from Mexico to Colombia and in the Greater Antilles from Cuba and Jamaica to Puerto Rico, but there is no verified record from the Lesser Antilles.