Culicoides (Sensiculicoides) travisi Vargas, 1960

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 : 86-88

Culicoides (Sensiculicoides) travisi Vargas (new status)

( Fig. 99 , 153, 232, 274)

Culicoides travisi Vargas, 1949: 233 , (new name for Culicoides simulans Root and Hoffman , preoccupied by Vimmer, 1932). Foote and Pratt 1954: 33 (key; fig. female wing, mesonotum, palpus, male genitalia).

Culicoides (Oecacta) travisi: Khalaf 1954: 37 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 257 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Jamnback 1965: 106 (female; male genitalia; pupa, larva; biology; fig. male genitalia; female wing, antenna, palpus, eye separation, pupal tubercles; synonym: Culicoides horneae Foote and Pratt ). Childers and Wingo 1968: 19 (key; biology; fig. female wing, spermathecae). Battle and Turner 1971: 84 (female; male genitalia; larval habitats; feeding habits; seasonal distribution; fig. female eye separation, palpus, wing, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres). Blanton and Wirth 1979: 159 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; pupa; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, leg, male genitalia, parameres; larval habitat, feeding habits, seasonal distribution). Wirth et al. 1985: 38 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 373 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. head, epipharynx, hypostoma, mandible, caudal segment).

Culicoides simulans Root and Hoffman, 1937: 167 (diagnosis; female, male; fig. male genitalia, parameres, female wing; Maryland). James 1943: 150 (male genitalia; Colorado).

Culicoides horneae Foote and Pratt, 1954: 25 (key; male; fig. male wing, mesonotum, genitalia; New York).

Culicoides (Beltranmyia) travisi: Vargas 1960: 38 (assignment to subgenus Beltranmyia ).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern reduced; r 2 dark; pale spots at tip of costa, on r-m crossvein, absent or faint in apices of r 3, m 1, m 2, cua 1; antennal ratio 1.39–1.68; proboscis ratio 0.74–0.85; palpal ratio 2.09–2.70; spermathecae unequal by 1.15–1.26×, sclerotized necks absent or shorter than wide; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; gonostylus almost straight, midportion of lateral contour concave; aedeagus Y-shaped, aedeagal ratio ~0.4; median process long, narrow, parallel-sided on distal half; parameres separate, apices simple, pointed, curved ventrally.

Distribution. Eastern North America, at least from Alberta ( Lysyk and Galloway 2014), Ontario, Nova Scotia, south through Wyoming to Oklahoma, Florida. Reported distributions west of the Continental Divide are likely confused with C. kibunensis (see remarks).

Larval ecology. Immatures have been collected or reared from a shaded stream margin with decaying leaves ( Williams 1955), freshwater soil, stream sand and mud bar margins ( Jones 1961b), wet meadow depression, cattail swamp, leaves and detritus on sedimentary rock stream margin ( Jamnback 1965), shaded stream margin with leaves, sand, and mud ( Hair et al. 1966), soil saturated by spring seepage ( Childers and Wingo 1968), soil of wet wooded spring-fed bottomland, leafy pools in woodland bottomland, temporary rain pool, and wooded flowing freshwater ( Blanton and Wirth 1979).

Adult behavior. Known hosts are cow ( Roberts 1965; Zimmerman and Turner 1983), human ( Snow 1955; Hair 1966; Hair and Turner 1968; Blanton and Wirth 1979), turkey, rabbit ( Humphreys and Turner 1973), grackle ( Quiscalus quiscula ) ( Robinson 1971), horse ( Blanton and Wirth 1979), and sheep ( Zimmerman and Turner 1983). Hair (1966) collected blood-engorged C. travisi from drop traps baited with eastern cotton-tail rabbit ( Sylvilagus ), guinea pig ( Cavia porcellus ), rat ( Rattus ), opossum ( Didelphis ), chicken ( Gallus gallus ), turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ), mallard duck ( Anas boschas ), bobwhite quail ( Colinus virginianus ), and mourning dove.

Snow (1955) reported C. travisi to be a crepuscular and nocturnal blood-feeder with a strong preference for the ecotone and shrub-herb layer rather than within the forest or canopy, and Murray (1957) reported it to be most active in and on the edge of forested areas with peak nighttime activity during 0200–0500 hours. These are behaviors consistent with its mostly mammalian and ground-bird host preferences.

Vector potential. Robinson (1971) found Chandlerella quiscali in only 7 of 112 C. travisi 10 d after feeding on an infected grackle, suggesting it is not a favorable vector for that parasite. However, Bartlett and Anderson (1980) found C. travisi naturally infected with Chandlerella chitwoodae Anderson (Nematoda: Filarioidea), a parasite of crows ( Corvus brachyrhynchos ) and grouse ( Dendragapus obscurus [Say], Bonasa umbellus [[Linnaeus], Phasianidae ).

Remarks. Culicoides travisi matches all the diagnostic characters Szadziewski et al. (2016: 420) list for subgenus Sensiculicoides Shevchenko by having: gonocoxites with the ventral apodeme triangular, slender, and simple; paramere bare; apicolateral processes of tergite 9 long, slender, and triangular; female SCo on proximal and distal flagellomeres; two functional strongly sclerotized spermathecae; and palpal segment 3 with a distinct sensory pit on both sexes. Based on this and its similarity to C. kibunensis , I propose assignment of C. travisi to subgenus Sensiculicoides (new status).

The only Utah record of C. travisi I could find is the map Figure 124 in Blanton and Wirth (1979: 161), which shows Utah and Arizona on the western edge of the distribution. Because C. travisi and C. kibunensis are difficult to distinguish and their reported distributions overlap in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, their taxonomic status in North America needs clarification. See also C. kibunensis remarks.

Subgenus Silvaticulicoides Glukhova

The normally important diagnostic characters of a sclerotized ring on the spermathecal duct and the number of hind tibial spines have been inconsistently reported for our three southwestern species of the Spinosus group of subgenus Silvaticulicoides : C. sublettei , C. usingeri , and C. vetustus Breidenbaugh and Mullens.

Wirth (1952a: 192) described and Bullock (1952: 23) redescribed C. usingeri with a sclerotized ring on the spermathecal duct. However, Grodhaus (no date, key couplet 25) stated C. usingeri lacks a ring; Atchley (1967: 997) reexamined type material and found the ring absent; and the specimen I collected in Utah lacks the ring. Furthermore, Atchley (1967: 997) described C. sublettei as not having the ring; however, the specimen I examined from Gillespie County, Texas, and the specimen I collected in Arizona both have the ring. Breidenbaugh and Mullens do not mention the presence or absence of a ring in C. vetustus . It seems that, contrary to Atchley’s (1967: 997) Spinosus group diagnosis, this characteristic is not consistent in this group.

Breidenbaugh and Mullens (1999b: 159) described C. vetustus with five spines on the hind tibial comb and state that there are five on C. sublettei and four on C. usingeri (their p. 161). However, Atchley (1967: 997) describes C. sublettei with four spines, and Atchley (1967: 999) and Grodhaus (no date, couplet 25) state that C. usingeri has five spines. Furthermore, five of five C. vetustus specimens borrowed from Breidenbaugh and Mullens’ collection, including a paratype I examined, had four spines on each comb; and the C. usingeri female I collected in Utah has five on one comb and four on the other, and the C. usingeri male has four on each.

This confusion suggests that either these characteristics are highly variable or there is significant interspecies hybridization. Furthermore, subgenus Silvaticulicoides seems to have close affinity with the Palmerae group. See the remarks for each species and the discussion under “Subgenus unplaced, Palmerae group”.

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]).

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]).