Culicoides (Monoculicoides) sonorensis Wirth and Jones

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 : 8-9

Culicoides (Monoculicoides) sonorensis Wirth and Jones

Culicoides variipennis sonorensis Wirth and Jones, 1957: 18 (Arizona) .

Culicoides sonorensis: Holbrook et al. 2000: 70 (species status; genetic analysis of C. variipennis complex; distribution).

Culicoides (Monoculicoides) sonorensis: Borkent and Grogan 2009: 15 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution); Grogan et al. 2010: 27 (Florida records from Escambia, Jackson, and Jefferson counties).

Culicoides variipennis australis Wirth and Jones, 1957: 15 (Louisiana) ; Atchley 1967: 975 (as synonym of C. v. sonorensis ); Holbrook et al. 2000: 70 (as synonym of C. sonorensis ).

Culicoides variipennis albertensis Wirth and Jones, 1957: 17 (Alberta) ; Holbrook et al. 2000: 70 (as synonym of C. sonorensis ).

Culicoides (Monoculicoides) variipennis: Blanton and Wirth 1979: 161 (Florida records, in part); Wilkening et al. 1985: 521 (Florida records, in part).

Culicoides occidentalis albertensis: Downes 1978: 63 .

Culicoides occidentalis sonorensis: Downes 1978: 63 .

Discussion. Wirth and Jones (1957) originally described Culicoides sonorensis as a subspecies of C. variipennis (Coquillett) , and it was only recently recognized as a distinct species by Holbrook et al. (2000). Based on detailed electrophoretic and morphological analyses, Holbrook et al. concluded that the C. variipennis complex included three distinct species: C. variipennis , C. occidentalis Wirth and Jones , and C. sonorensis Wirth and Jones. In North America, C. sonorensis is the primary vector of BTV, but it also can vector EHDV ( Mellor et al. 2004; Ruder et al. 2012), whereas C. variipennis is the primary vector of EHDV ( Borkent 2004). However, C. occidentalis apparently does not vector either of these viruses (Holbrook et al. 2000). Females of C. sonorensis are readily distinguished from females of C. variipennis by their greatly swollen palpal segment 3 with a large, rounded sensory pit that is often partially subdivided, and males are the only species in this complex with a spiculate aedeagus (Holbrook et al. 2000).

Both C. sonorensis and C. variipennis are typically associated with livestock operations, and they can be extremely abundant at such sites ( Kramer et al. 1985a; Schmidtmann et al. 2000; WLG, personal observations). Culicoides sonorensis is a wide-ranging species that inhabits western North America in British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Montana, and South Dakota, south to California, Kansas, Texas, and Puebla, Mexico ( Huerta et al. 2012). East of the Mississippi River, it occurs in scattered populations throughout the midwestern, southeastern, and middle Atlantic United States (Holbrook et al. 2000; Borkent and Grogan 2009). Because many publications that dealt with C. sonorensis were published before it was formally recognized as a morphologically and genetically distinct species, specific records for this vector are often difficult to find. However, Kramer et al. (1985b) conducted a study of cattle feedlots throughout Florida and were only able to collect species in the C. variipennis complex at sites in northern Florida and along the eastern coast, but few in the southernmost sites.

More recently, Grogan et al. (2010) re-examined slides of the C. variipennis complex from Florida primarily in the U. S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C. (USNM), and listed records of C. sonorensis from the panhandle region of that state. We provide the first records of C. sonorensis from Manatee and Sarasota counties, Florida, from livestock operations on the central Gulf coast of that state. We also provide several new records of C. sonorensis from Clarke County, Alabama that are unusual because they are from locations without livestock. Also included are new county records from Escambia, County, Alabama and Alachua County, Florida based on slide-mounted specimens in the synoptic collection of WLG.

New County Records in Alabama and Florida. ALABAMA, Clarke Co., Jackson, Fred T. Stimpson Wildlife Management Area , 24 August 2011, 6 females ; same data except 21 September 2011, 2 females ; same data except 14 August 2012, 2 females. Escambia Co., Atmore, June 1962, F. S. Blanton, 1 male ( WLG). FLORIDA, Alachua Co., Gainesville, Chantilly Acres, March 1967, F. S. Blanton, light trap, 1 female ( WLG). Manatee Co. , Bradenton, 26 May 2008, 1 female. Sarasota Co. , Arcadia, 5 June 2008, 1 female .