Malaya genurostris Leicester, 1908.
Subfamily Culicinae, tribe Sabethini. Malaya is a small genus of only 12 species.
Adults of Malaya are unique in having a “hairy”, bent, apically swollen proboscis that is folded beneath the body when at rest. They are otherwise similar to the adults of Kimia and Topomyia, both have a conspicuous median longitudinal white or silver stripe on the scutum and lack setae on the upper calypter, which distinguish them from other Old World sabethines (Maorigoeldia and Tripteroides). In the areas where Malaya species occur, the larvae are distinguished from non-sabethine genera by the presence of a single pair of seta 4-X. Malaya differ from Kimia and Tripteroides in having a slit-like occipital foramen and comb scales in two or more rows. The larvae of Malaya closely resemble Kimia and Topomyia but are distinct in having the maxillary palpus fused with the maxillary body and seta 4-X single rather than branched. See Sabethini.
Larvae occupy cavities, including the leaf axils of plants, tree holes and the water-filled nests of arboreal ants. Adults are active during the daytime. Their feeding habits are unique among mosquitoes. They feed on the regurgitation of ants. To accomplish this, the mosquito accosts an ant and brings the tip of its proboscis into contract with the mouth of the ant until a drop of liquid is produced. The regurgitated liquid is rapidly sucked up and the ant goes away unharmed.
Species of Malaya occur in central Africa, through most of the Oriental Region and into Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, China and the Ryukyu Archipelago.
Barraud, 1934 (as genus Harpagomyia, southern Asia); Thurman, 1959 (Thailand); Belkin, 1962 (taxonomy, South Pacific); Tanaka et al., 1979 (Japan); Lee et al., 1988b (Australasian Region); Service, 1990 (Afrotropical Region).
farquharsoni (Edwards, 1922)
fraseri (Edwards, 1922)
genurostris Leicester, 1908
incomptas Ramalingam & Pillai, 1972
jacobsoni (Edwards, 1930)
leei (Wharton, 1947)
marceli (Mattingly, 1953)
moucheti (Hamon & Adam, 1955)
solomonis (Wharton, 1947)
splendens (de Meijere, 1909)
taeniarostris (Theobald, 1911)
trichorostris (Theobald, 1909)