Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) copiosus Root and Hoffman

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 : 63

Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) copiosus Root and Hoffman

(Fig. 112, 165, 217, 218, 260, 261)

Culicoides copiosus Root and Hoffman, 1937: 171 (female, male; fig. male genitalia, parameres; Federal District, Mexico). Wirth 1952a: 191 (in part; key; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, male genitalia).

Culicoides (Oecacta) copiosus: Khalaf 1954: 37 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 232 (in part; key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Wirth and Hubert 1960: 657 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres).

Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) copiosus: Vargas 1960: 40 (subgenus Drymodesmyia Vargas ; designated C. copiosus as type species). Downes and Wirth 1981: 402, 407 (fig. female wing, palpus). Wirth et al. 1985: 14 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Wirth et al. 1988: 26 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 30 (in Neotropical catalog).

Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) pilosus Wirth and Blanton, 1959 : Vargas 1960: 40 (synonym).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Dark brown; wing pattern usually distinct, but may be diffuse; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3 simple, often nearly circular on female; pale spots at ~0.3 on M 1 and ~0.5 on M 2; one or two pale spots in distal half of anal cell, the second one faint if present; tips of M 1, M 2 dark; CuA 1 and CuA 2 within dark areas; pore of sensory pit on palpal segment 3 ~0.3 the diameter of segment, widening internally (as in Fig. 248 C. sitiens ); tibiae without subapical pale band; spermathecae unequal by ~1.2×, pyriform, largest is larger than flagellomere 1; ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 sparsely to densely spiculate; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, longer than dorsal apodeme; aedeagus V-shaped, rounded tip ~0.15 width of arm spread, aedeagal ratio ~0.4; parameres separate, apices simple pointed bent.

Distribution. California, Utah (Washington County, new state record), Arizona, Texas, northern Mexico.

Larval ecology. Culicoides copiosus has been reared from rot holes in Opuntia and Pachycereus schottii ( Ryckman 1960) . The Utah specimens were collected from an area where only one species of cactus ( Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa ) was present. Wirth’s (1952a) description and records (at least in part) of C. copiosus , and Ryckman’s (1953) report of rearing C. copiosus from Carnegiea gigantea were misidentifications of C. ryckmani ( Wirth and Hubert 1960) .

Adult behavior. Wirth and Hubert (1960) describe the mandibular teeth on the female as “very fine, almost vestigial”, which suggested the possibility C. copiosus does not blood-feed. However, C. ryckmani , which has been collected blood-engorged ( Ryckman 1960), was also described as having “very fine, practically vestigial teeth”, much like those of C. hinmani , a species known to be ornithophilic.