Culicoides (Monoculicoides) variipennis (Coquillett, 1901)

Huerta, Rodríguez, Ana M., William L. Grogan, Jr. & Ibáñez-Bernal, Sergio, 2012, New records of biting midges of the genus Culicoides Latreille from Mexico (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (211), pp. 1-20 : 12

Culicoides (Monoculicoides) variipennis complex

The variipennis complex was previously divided into five subspecies by Wirth and Jones (1957), however, their ranges greatly overlapped, and this cast doubts on the validity of this arrangement. Recently, this complex was intensively re-examined morphologically and electrophoretically by Holbrook et al. (2000) who demonstrated that this complex is actually composed of three distinct species: C. variipennis (Coquillett) , C. sonorensis Wirth and Jones , and C. occidentalis Wirth and Jones. Two of these species are the primary vectors of two economically important related viral diseases of domestic and wild ruminants in North America: bluetongue, vectored by C. sonorensis in primarily sheep, goats and cattle; and, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, vectored by C. variipennis in deer and elk. Females of C. variipennis are readily distinguished by their slender 3rd palpal segment with a small sensory pit, whereas females of C. sonorensis and C. occidentalis have a broad 3rd palpal segment with a large palpal pit and are currently morphologically indistinguishable ( Holbrook et al. 2000). Males of C. sonorensis are distinctive in pos- sessing spicules on the ventral membrane of their aedeagus, whereas males of C. variipennis and C. occidentalis lack these spicules and can be difficult to distinguish morphologically, however, their respective ranges are nearly mutually exclusive ( Holbrook et al. 2000). This species complex is still poorly known in Mexico ecologically and economically, therefore, we relist all previously known records and provide new records based on specimens we examined in CAIM and the FSCA.