Culicoides (Silvicola) freeborni Wirth and Blanton

Phillips, Robert A., 2022, Culicoides Latreille and Leptoconops Skuse biting midges of the southwestern United States with emphasis on the Canyonlands of southeastern Utah (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2022 (907), pp. 1-214 : 91-92

Culicoides (Silvicola) freeborni Wirth and Blanton

( Fig. 67 , 120 , 179, 243)

Culicoides (Culicoides) freeborni Wirth and Blanton, 1969b: 217 (key; numerical characters; female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; California). Jorgensen 1969 (as species 43): 33 (quantitative characters; key; female, male; seasonal distribution; fig. female wing, spermathecae, palpus, antenna, male parameres, genitalia). Wirth et al. 1985: 10 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Breidenbaugh and Mullens 1999a: 843 (egg, larva, pupa; fig. egg, larval head, mouthparts, thorax, caudal segment, pupal respiratory trumpet, operculum, caudal segment, chaetotaxy).

Culicoides (Silvicola) freeborni: Mirzaeva and Isaev 1990: 156 in English translation (as part of Cockerellii group, assignment to new subgenus Silvicola ).

Culicoides luteovenus Root and Hoffman , misidentified: Root and Hoffman 1937: 156 (in part; female, male; fig. female wing, male genitalia; Federal District, Mexico). Wirth 1952a: 175 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, mesonotum, palpus). Fox 1955: 245 (in part; key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern extensive, with distinct distal stripes and pale spots; pale spot over at least distal half of r 2; cua 1 without central dark spot; dark spot over r 1 –r 2 not connected or only narrowly

connected to spot over M fork; dark spot in distal half of r 3 narrowly hourglass-shaped; eyes contiguous for ~1 ommatidium diameter; superior transverse suture present; palpal segment 3 with wide area of scattered sensilla, sometimes organized into irregular pitlike patches; scutum with prominent pattern; tibiae without pale bands; fore tarsomeres 1 or 2 with, hind tarsomeres without apical spines; spermathecae subequal; male tergite 9 with tiny apicolateral processes not projecting beyond median lobe; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite shorter than dorsal apodeme, strongly tapered, pointed, 1–2× as long as basal width; gonocoxite with short fine black setae on mesal surface; aedeagus V-shaped, median process tapered triangular, aedeagal ratio ~0.4; parameres separate, apices slender, curved hooklike, with fringe of tiny hairs at tip.

Distribution. Washington, Oregon, California.

Larval ecology and adult behavior. Wirth and Blanton (1969b) reported immatures reared from mud, moss, and soil and adult females collected from the ears of deer and jackrabbits. Using truck traps in Kern County, California, Nelson and Bellamy (1971) found C. freeborni more abundant in the fall than in the summer, with flight activity peaking near dusk and diminishing through the night without a peak at dawn.

Life cycle. Further studies by Breidenbaugh and Mullens (1999a) found that wild-caught females laid an average of 67 eggs, of which 35% hatched in ~4 d at 21–25 °C, and the larvae fed on the bacterial-feeding nematode Panagrellus redivivus in the laboratory.

Symbionts. Mullens et al. (1997b) experimented with the potential biocontrol parasitic nematode, Heleidomermis magnapapula in the laboratory and found it readily penetrated but did not develop or emerge from C. freeborni larvae, which continued to develop to adults with no sign of the nematodes.

Figures

Figures 66–72. Male genitalia of Culicoides subgenus Silvicola, ventral view. 66) C. cockerellii (Bonneville County, ID). 67) C. freeborni (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 68) C. lahontan. 69) C. neofagineus (paratype, Mendocino County, CA [FSCA]). 70) C. neomontanus, basal and apical tips of aedeagus triangulated. 71) C. saltonensis (Imperial County, CA [FSCA]). 72) C. sierrensis (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]).

Figures 117–125. Male wings of Culicoides subgenera Avaritia and Silvicola. 117) C. boydi (in grayscale) (Riverside County, CA [BM]). 118) C. obsoletus (MD [FSCA]). 119) C. cockerellii (Bonneville County, ID). 120) C. freeborni (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 121) C. lahontan. 122) C. neofagineus (in grayscale) (paratype, Mendocino County, CA [FSCA]). 123) C. neomontanus. 124) C. saltonensis (Imperial County, CA [FSCA]). 125) C. sierrensis (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]).