Camptopterohelea, Borkent, 2024

Borkent, Art, 2024, The Phylogeny of the Genera of Biting Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of the World, Zootaxa 5438 (1), pp. 1-274 : 227

Camptopterohelea :

- Male antenna with 11 flagellomeres. This feature was discussed by Borkent & Picado (2008: character 9) as a synapomorphy of Camptopterohelea and * Eohelea . There are other reductions in numbers of flagellomeres, discussed under “Uncertain Character States”.

- Female labrum with a very small peg (in those species with biting mouthparts). The feature is nearly unique in the family (but see Stiloculicoides ).

- Female mandible either reduced (undescribed species) or with fine teeth but with the apex of the mandible rounded (pointed, with teeth to apex in all others).

- Female mandibular arm arising from a triangle of cuticle projecting ventrally from the margin of the eye). The feature is unique in the family.

- Female prementum medial suture separate medially into two halves (so the two halves of the prementum have a small gap between them. The feature is unique in the Culicomorpha, other than Simuliidae .

- Anterior anepisternum with dorsal point of medial suture terminating far posterior to anterior spiracle. This feature is unique in the Culicomorpha (see character 67 for further comparisons).

- Wing without r-m. This condition is nearly unique in Ceratopogonidae but r-m is also absent in Leptoconops , each clearly independent losses. Females are either missing M 1 and M 2 or possibly have these incorporated into a patch of strongly modified spicules.

- Male wing with apex of M 1 anterior of apex of wing. This feature is unique within Ceratopogonidae among extant taxa. However, all six species of * Gedanohelea , an Eocene fossil genus known only as females, have this feature except for * G. gerdesorum Stebner & Szadziewski , in which it is drawn with the apex of M 1 posterior to the apex of the wing. Further to this, the base of M 1 is illustrated as weak in extant C. distincta by Das Gupta & Sarkar (1982), also unique within the family but similar to the female of Leptohelea , its sister genus, perhaps indicating a level of homology.

- Female hind tibia without a tibial comb composed of strong spines; only the row of fine spicules is present. All other Ceratopogonidae , including fossil * Eohelea , have at least three ( Leptohelea ) strong spines in their combs. This feature is not described for the single male known for this genus and this autapomorphy may therefore apply to both sexes.

- For each leg, tarsomeres 2–4 nearly equal in size. In all other Ceratopogonidae , tarsomere 2 is longer than both tarsomere 3 and tarsomere 4 (the latter often of similar size).

- At least female with apical half of hind tarsomere 2 with a tight row 2–5 palisade setae. This feature is unique in the infraorder. Some other Ceratopogoninae also have these setae on hind tarsomere 2 but either sparsely spaced or, if more dense (e.g. Notiohelea ), distributed along its entire length (see “Hind tarsomere 2 and 3 with palisade setae” under “Uncertain Character States”).