Culicoides monoensis 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 : 115-116

Culicoides monoensis Wirth

Culicoides monoensis Wirth, 1952a: 193 (female, male; fig. female wing, palpus, male genitalia; California).

Culicoides (Oecacta) monoensis: Khalaf 1954: 38 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 247 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Wirth et al. 1985: 38 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Black; wing without pattern of pale spots; legs brown; female palpal segment 3 not swollen, palpal ratio 3.0, sensory pit small, ~0.4 diameter of segment; two sclerotized subspherical spermathecae with vestigial third; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct; ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 bare; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, longer than dorsal apodeme, thin,>5× longer than wide; aedeagus V-shaped, apex bifurcate as deeply as wide; parameres separate, posterior portion with conspicuous submedian lateral bump and truncate tip.

Distribution. California (Mono, Plumas, San Benito counties).

Adult behavior. Culicoides monoensis has been collected by sweeping stream and lake margins ( Wirth 1952a). The greatly reduced SCo pattern (1, 12, 13), unswollen palpal segment 3 with small sensory pit, and short proboscis of the female are more typical of male Culicoides , suggesting this species either has an atypical host or does not blood feed. I have not examined any specimens, and there is no mention of mandibular teeth in the limited literature.