Culicoides pseudoregalis Majumdar & Das Gupta

Sarkar, Ankita, Banerjee, Paramita, Sinha, Shuvra Kanti & Mazumdar, Abhijit, 2023, A taxonomic revision of the Indian species of the ‘ Aterinervis’ group of Culicoides Latreille Subgenus Hoffmania Fox (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 5258 (4), pp. 405-428 : 416-417

Culicoides pseudoregalis Majumdar & Das Gupta

( Fig 6a–h )

Culicoides pseudoregalis Majumdar & Das Gupta , in Majumdar, Das Gupta & Gangopadhyay 1997: 30; Majumdar 1972: 176–180; Nandi 2014: 99–100

Materials examined. Holotype (1 ♀), Darjeeling Govt. College, 24.viii.1968, Coll. Dr. S.K. Das Gupta. 1 ♀, Bhotaykhadka , Neora Valley National Park, 19.x.2019, Coll. S. K. Sinha.

Diagnosis. Poststigmatic pale spot ended before vein M 1; anal cell with two constricted proximal and distal hourglass shaped pale spots.

Female.

Head ( Figs. 6a and 6b ). Antenna with SCo on flagellomeres 1, 9–13; first flagellomere whitish at basal half, distal half brown, flagellomeres 2–13 brown. Third palpal segment long, slender with minute capitate sensilla, without sensory pit; first segment short, second segment stout, fourth, fifth segments short, 4 apical sensilla in fifth segment.

Thorax ( Fig. 6c ). Brown; scutum with distinct median pale streak; scutellum dark; postscutellum dark brown.

Legs ( Figs. 6d and 6e ). Brownish; fore and mid femora with pale apical bands, mid and hind femora with pale bases, fore and mid tibiae with broad basal bands, hind tibia with apical, basal pale band; hind tibial comb with 5 spines, second one longest; spur tip frayed; claws equal.

Wing ( Fig. 6f ). Grayish; dark area at anal angle; pale spot over r-m crossvein narrow, reaching vein M; poststigmatic pale spot not reaching vein M 1; dark band apical to r-m crossvein broadly touching costal margin, continuous posteriorly to cell m 2; distal pale spot in cell r 3 not reaching wing margin; cell m 1 with an oval, distal pale spot distant from wing margin, dark streaks overlying vein M 1, distally with pale streaks; total three pale spots present in cell m 2, proximal pale spot present overlying Cu fork, next one confluent with pale spot in cell m 1 and third distal one touching wing margin; cell cua 1 with a large triangular pale spot touching wing margin, narrowly separated from vein CuA 2, anal cell with two narrowly constricted proximal and distal pale spots. Macrotrichia restricted to apical, posterior wing blade.

Abdomen ( Fig. 6h ). Brownish with dark streaks; two well developed, unequal, oval spermathecae well sclerotized with prominent, straight necks; rudimentary spermatheca more or less bladder-like; sclerotized ring present.

Male. Unknown.

Immatures. Unknown

Larval habitat. Unknown

Distribution. India (Darjeeling, Neora Valley National Park, West Bengal)

Remarks. C. pseudoregalis is similar in appearance to C. quasiregalis in having pale area at wing base extending to anal angle and a dark marking in the anal corner but differs slightly in antennal and palpal ratios and two constricted pale spots. These characters may represent intraspecific variability but this requires studying more specimens. This species differs from C. neoregalis and C. regalis in possessing a narrow pale spot over r-m crossvein, two narrowly constricted pale spots in anal cell, dark marking in anal corner. It is distinguished from C. pararegalis by possessing a higher antennal ratio, smaller palpal ratio ( Table 1 ), hind tibial comb with 5 spines and a large distal pale spot in cell r 3.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Culicoides pseudoregalis. a) head; b) maxillary palp; c) thorax; d) mid tarsis; e) hind tibial spines; f) wing; g) halter and h) spermathecae with ring