Culicoides (Selfia) moabensis Phillips, 2015

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 : 83-84

Culicoides (Selfia) moabensis Phillips

( Fig. 33, 35 )

Culicoides (Selfia) moabensis Phillips, 2015: 842 (key; diagnosis, male, female; fig. male head, thorax, wing, genitalia; female head, thorax, color, wing, genitalia; seasonal activity; Utah: Grand County).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Yellowish to reddish yellow; wing without pattern of pale spots; three unsclerotized or faintly sclerotized long fingerlike spermathecae; male scutellum with four setae; hind tarsomeres without apical spines; posterior margin of sternite 9 convex over base of aedeagus, without paired median lobes; basal third of gonocoxite abruptly expanded and bent mesally; gonocoxal apodeme simple, without hooklike process; aedeagus ~2× longer than wide, lateral arms not boomerang-shaped sclerites, apical third trifurcate into subparallel lobes>2× longer than wide; parameres fused, as long as wide, median process elongate triangular tonguelike.

Distribution. Grand County, Utah.

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female and collection in CO 2 -baited traps indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; and though its hosts are unknown, the SCo presence on only the proximal flagellomeres suggests it is mammalophilic.

Culicoides moabensis was collected from mid-April through October, with strong peaks in late May (week 21) and early October (week 41), suggesting it is bivoltine in Grand County, which may not be the case in other areas (see C. brookmani biology).

Remarks. Culicoides moabensis is more closely related to C. brookmani and C. multipunctatus of the Multipunctatus group than to other Selfia species ( Phillips 2015).

Figures

Figures 33–36. 33) Culicoides moabensis female (top) and unidentified brown C. subgenus Selfia female (bottom), lateral habitus (in alcohol). Male genitalia, ventral view focused on aedeagus. 34) C. brookmani, basal arm of paramere (Pa), distal tip of median process of paramere delineated (Pt), basal arm of aedeagus (Aa), tip of median process of aedeagus (At), gonocoxite (Gc), gonostylus (Gs). 35) C. moabensis, median process of paramere (Pmp) (paratype). 36) C. denningi, sternite 9 caudal lobes (S9cl).