Culicoides Piliferus

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 : 111

Culicoides Piliferus group species B

(Fig. 233, 266)

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15, data from eight specimens) Dark brown. Wing pattern faint; r 2 dark; faint pale spots at ~0.3 on M 1, at ~0.5 on M 2, distal in r 3, m 1, m 2 (difficult to see without digital camera); flagellomeres 9–10 normal, each larger than 8; SCo pattern 1, 3, 5, 7–13, occasionally also on 2, 4, or 6 of one antenna; combined length of flagellomeres 7+8 less than 9; palpal sensory pit broad, round, shallow, not enlarged internally; labrum without apical median projection; fore and hind tarsomeres without apical spines; scutellum with 13–14 setae; two ovoid spermathecae unequal by ~1.5, with sclerotized necks <0.2 as long as wide; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct. Male unknown.

Distribution. Idaho (Blaine County), Utah (San Juan, Sanpete counties), Colorado (Montrose County). Thirtysix females were collected in Colorado at Antone Spring on the Uncompahgre Plateau at 2934 m elevation on 30 July 2020, and three females were collected in the La Sal Mountains of Utah at 2894 m elevation on 16 August 2019. Both sites were montane conifer forest habitats.

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; and though its hosts are unknown, it is a member of the Piliferus group, generally considered ornithophilic ( Wirth and Hubert 1962). The Colorado collection environment was a marshy spring and creek within Engelmann spruce ( Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelmann , Pinaceae ) and aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michaux , Salicaceae ) forest. The Utah environment was a similar conifer-aspen forest with a nearby marshy spring.

Remarks. The SCo pattern, pale spots on midportions of M 1 and M 2, unequal spermathecae, and basic oddnumbered SCo pattern place this species in the Piliferus group. However, it does not key to or match any species in the unpublished key and data table of Kramer and Wirth (no date), which includes 27 Nearctic Piliferus group species. The combination of extensive but faint wing pattern, dark brown color, SCo pattern, close eye separation, and antennal and proboscis ratios readily distinguish it from the other species collected.

In addition, three females collected at 2658 m elevation on 19 July 2019 in the Wasatch Plateau in Sanpete County, Utah, and one female collected at 1974 m elevation on 16 July 2019 along Corral Creek in the Pioneer Mountains in Blaine County, Idaho, in similar conifer-aspen forests were similar in all aspects but differed in having an unusual SCo pattern of 1, (2), 3, (4), 5, (6), 7–13, where the missing SCo were from only one antenna. Furthermore, two other specimens from the same Blaine County collection had 1–13 SCo patterns but were otherwise identical. Because of this anomaly, though included in the collection data Tables 5, 7, and 9, their morphological data are not included in Tables 14 and 15.

Subgenus unplaced, Saundersi group