Culicoides lophortygis Atchley and Wirth, 1422

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 : 109

Culicoides lophortygis Atchley and Wirth

Culicoides lophortygis Atchley and Wirth, 1975: 1422 (female; fig. antenna, wing, palpus, eye separation, spermathecae, leg; comparison with C. doeringae ; California). Wirth et al. 1985: 24 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; isolated pale spots straddling midportions of M 1 and M 2; distal pale spot in r 3 filling most of distal half of cell; distal pale spots in m 1, m 2; flagellomeres 9–10 normal, each larger than 8; SCo pattern 1, 3, (5), (7), 11–13; eyes separated>1 ommatidium diameter; spermathecae unequal by ~1.3, with short, sclerotized necks <0.5 as long as wide; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct. Male unknown, but genitalia likely similar to that of C. doeringae .

Distribution. California (Mendocino, Monterey counties).

Adult behavior and vector potential. Culicoides lophortygis has been collected from California quail ( Lophortyx californicus ) and while biting a human at dusk in California ( Atchley and Wirth 1975). In addition, Weinmann et al. (1979) collected blood-engorged C. lophortygis from California quail-baited traps, found development of quail heartworm ( Splendidofilaria californiensis ) to the first-juvenile non-infective stage in several specimens, but found no other evidence C. lophortygis can transmit the parasite.

Remarks. Based on data collected in this study, C. lophortygis and C. doeringae may be conspecific. However, no C. lophortygis were examined. See C. doeringae remarks.