Culicoides nanellus Wirth and Blanton

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 : 116

Culicoides nanellus Wirth and Blanton

Culicoides nanellus Wirth and Blanton, 1969a: 565 (female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, hind leg, male genitalia, parameres; California). Wirth et al. 1985: 38 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Pale brown; wing pattern reduced, distal pale spots absent from or barely discernable in r 3, m 1, m 2 (similar to Fig. 145, 224 C. hawsi or 148, 237 C. sublettei ); tibiae with basal pale band; female palpus fusiform, with a deep sensory pit ~0.4 as wide as segment (pit similar to Fig. 249 C. hinmani ); two unequal ovoid spermathecae (ratio 1.06) with fingerlike vestigial third; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct; ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 bare; gonocoxal apodemes simple, ventral apodeme thin, ~5× longer than wide; midportion of lateral contour of gonostylus slightly concave; aedeagus almost V-shaped, basal arms relatively slender and only slightly curved, each ~10× longer than wide, median process simple, tapering to narrow blunt tip, aedeagal ratio ~0.55; parameres separate, apical half simple thin sinuous.

Distribution. California (Mendocino County).

Larval ecology. Culicoides nanellus was collected by F.K. Murphy in a treehole trap 1 July 1965 ( Wirth and Blanton 1969a).

Adult behavior. The mandibular teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; however, its hosts are unknown.

Remarks. Male C. nanellus would most likely be confused with those C. kibunensis that occasionally have five spines in the hind tibial comb; however, C. kibunensis has a more robust aedeagus with thicker basal arms and a broader distal process ( Fig. 98 ). Females are readily distinguished by SCo pattern, antennal ratio, and the distinctive palpal segment 3. No C. nanellus specimens were examined.

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]).