Uranotaenia ( Pseudoficalbia ) sumethi Peyton & Rattanarithikul, 1970

Gopalakrishnan, S., Natarajan, R., Shriram, A. N., Kumar, Ashwani & Rahi, Manju, 2025, Diversity of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Meghalaya State, India, with notes on seven new country records, Zootaxa 5706 (3), pp. 337-366 : 354

6. Uranotaenia ( Pseudoficalbia) sumethi Peyton & Rattanarithikul, 1970

A total of 15 specimens (3 F, 1 M, 1 MG, 3 Le, 5 L, among these a female with associated larval and pupal exuviae) collected on 25.VIII.2022 from crab holes in the Dibru Hills ( 25.906550 N; 90.121067 E, 74.35 m a.s.l) in Meghalaya State, India. These specimens were examined and compared with the descriptions provided by Peyton (1977) and Rattanarithikul et al. (2006). Uranotaenia sumethi is previously known only from Thailand.

Diagnosis. Adults are pale brown in colour with a uniformly pale thoracic pleura. The anterior pronotum bears light brown scales, with the lower margin having 1 long stout seta and 5 small weak setae. The postpronotum is characterized by 1,2 setae and a distinct patch of scales. The mesokatepisternum bears a patch of colourless, translucent scales on the upper half, while the mesepimeron lacks setae ( Fig. 3d). Adults of Ur. sumethi resemble Ur. nocticola Peyton, 1977 and Ur. pylei Baisas, 1946 in general coloration but differ distinctly in the aforementioned characters.

Larvae of Ur. sumethi are readily distinguished from the larvae of other species by the following features: Seta 5-C is single; the mentum possesses approximately 9 teeth ( Fig. 3e); seta 5-III–VI is single and weak; seta 9-II–V is stout, short and single; segment X is covered with a complete saddle; and the pecten spines are short with apical denticles ( Fig. 3f).