Culicoides (Silvaticulicoides) usingeri Wirth, 1952

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 : 89

Culicoides (Silvaticulicoides) usingeri Wirth

( Fig. 95 , 149, 238, 270)

Culicoides usingeri Wirth, 1952a: 192 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, spermathecae, palpus, male genitalia; California). Bullock 1952: 23 (female; male genitalia; Utah: Salt Lake County). Rees and Bullock 1954 (Utah: Salt Lake County).

Culicoides (Oecacta) usingeri: Khalaf 1954: 38 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 258 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Wirth et al. 1985: 34 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Breidenbaugh and Mullens 1999b: 161 (comparison to C. vetustus ).

Culicoides (Silvaticulicoides) usingeri: Borkent and Grogan 2009: 15 (in Nearctic catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern reduced; r 2 dark; pale spots at tip of costa, on r-m crossvein, absent from r 3, m 1, m 2, cua 1, anal cell; spermathecae with sclerotized necks about as long as wide; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite slender, ~2× longer than dorsal apodeme; entire lateral contour of gonostylus convex; aedeagus V-shaped; parameres separate, mostly straight, apex with five or six divergent holly leaflike spines.

Distribution. Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah (Garfield, Salt Lake counties). Though rare or absent from Grand County, this species may be abundant elsewhere in the Canyonlands. Culicoides usingeri was reported from Salt Lake County by Bullock (1952) and Rees and Bullock (1954); however, it seems likely the reason these early records were not included in later catalogs or other records is their obscurity. Because C. usingeri was collected from Garfield County in the present study, it is likely the Salt Lake County records are valid, and C. usingeri is here confirmed as a Utah record.

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; however, its hosts are unknown. Besides the Garfield County collection, the only other record of C. usingeri in Utah is from Bullock (1952) who collected adults during June in Salt Lake County .

Remarks. The female specimen I collected in Utah lacks the sclerotized ring on the spermathecal duct and has five spines on one hind tibial comb and four on the other. The male has four spines on each. The wing patterns are distinct from C. sublettei (Fig. 148–150, 237–239), and the C. usingeri have apical spines on the hind tarsomeres, whereas the C. sublettei and C. vetustus specimens I have examined do not. See subgenus Silvaticulicoides discussion.

Figures

Figures 94–99. Male genitalia of Culicoides, ventral view. Ventral apodeme of gonocoxite and apex of paramere circled on Fig. 94–96. 94) C. sublettei (Gillespie County, TX [FSCA]). 95) C. usingeri. 96) C. vetustus (San Bernardino County, CA [BM]). 97) C. posoensis (paratype, Kern County, CA [FSCA]). 98) C. kibunensis. 99) C. travisi (VA [FSCA]).