Culicoides (Avaritia) alachua Jamnback and Wirth

Vigil, Wlodkowski, John C., Joshua, Vargas, Shaw, David, Christopher, William L. Grogan, Jr. & Corn, Joseph L., 2014, New records of biting midges of the genus Culicoides Latreille from the southeastern United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2014 (394), pp. 1-14 : 4-5

Culicoides (Avaritia) alachua Jamnback and Wirth

Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen), 1818: 76 ; Beck 1952: 102 (Florida); Beck 1956: 133 (Florida); Beck 1957: 8 (Florida).

Culicoides alachua Jamnback and Wirth, 1963: 187 (Florida; in review of the C. obsoletus group in eastern USA); Brickle et al. 2008: 54 ( Georgia record).

Culicoides (Avaritia) alachua: Wirth 1965: 128 (in Nearctic catalog); Blanton and Wirth 1979: 54 (Florida records; distribution); Wirth et al. 1985: 12 (in Nearctic Wing Atlas ) ; Wilkening et al. 1985: 519 (Florida records); Borkent and Grogan 2009: 12 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution) .

Discussion. Culicoides alachua is in the subgenus Avaritia , which contains several vector species: C. imicola Kieffer , a vector of BTV in Africa and Southern Europe, C. brevitarsis Kieffer , a vector of BTV and EHDV in Australia, C. pusillus Lutz , a BTV vector in the Neotropics, and C. obsoletus , a possible BTV vector in Europe ( Borkent 2004; Mellor et al. 2004). Apparently, C. alachua is primarily a mammalophilic species that is known to feed on livestock ( Kramer et al. 1985a; Greiner et al. 1990). It was originally described by Jamnback and Wirth (1963) from specimens that were considered to be C. obsoletus ( Beck 1952, 1956, 1957) collected from the interior counties of Alachua, Highlands, Lake and Marion in north-central Florida. Blanton and Wirth (1979) also reported this species from the eastern portion of the Florida panhandle in Jefferson and Liberty counties and in South Carolina. Hagan and Wirth (1985) surveyed coastal Georgia for Culicoides , but did not collect any specimens of C. alachua , however, they suggested that it was “…reasonably expected to occur in Georgia”. Subsequently, Brickle et al. (2008) reported on the first record of this species from Georgia, a female collected in a hardwood forest in Bulloch County on the southeastern Coastal Plain. We provide the first records of C. alachua from Alabama. We also include a new Florida county record for St. Lucie County, on the southeastern coast of that state as well as the second record from Georgia in Ware County from a site adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

New State Records. ALABAMA, Lowndes Co., White Hall, Lowndes County Wildlife Management Area , 8 July 2008, 2 females ; same data except 16 August 2008, 1 male ; same data except 14 September 2011, 1 female .

New Florida and Georgia County Records. FLORIDA, St. Lucie Co., Fort Pierce, Teague Hammock Preserve, 4 April 2011, 1 male. GEORGIA, Ware Co., Waycross, Dixon Memorial Wildlife Management Area, 14 July 2010, 2 females.