Ceratopogon azari Dominiak, Alwin & Giłka, 2014

Alwin-Kownacka, Alicja, Szadziewski, Ryszard & Szwedo, Jacek, 2016, Biting midges of the tribe Ceratopogonini (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the Middle East, with keys and descriptions of new species, Zootaxa 4079 (5), pp. 551-572 : 560-561

Ceratopogon azari Dominiak, Alwin & Giłka, 2014

Ceratopogon azari Dominiak, Alwin & Giłka, 2014: 138 (male, Lebanon).

Diagnosis. Males differ from all other species of the genus by the following combination of characters: apicolateral processes of tergite IX elongate, each bearing two setae, parameres fused on proximal 1/3, aedeagus with seed-like medial prongs, lateral prongs lightly sclerotized with setose apices.

Material examined. LEBANON, Anti-Lebanon Mts. , Maaraboun village near Baalbek (in the locality named Sheaibe), N 33˚ 55.376 E 36˚15.490, altitude 1781 m, stream and helocrene, 3 males, 3 females, 5.V.2012, net, leg. P. Dominiak.

Distribution. A montane species living in Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

Discussion. Ceratopogon including 41 extant species ( Borkent & Grogan 1995) is a relictual Boreal genus which has Holarctic distribution ( Szadziewski 2008). The species C. azari extends the southernmost distribution for this genus in the Western Palaearctic. This montane species was collected at altitude 1781 m a.s.l.