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 : 110-111

Culicoides Piliferus group species A (likely USNM species 25)

( Fig. 86, 87 , 140, 235, 265)

Culicoides piliferus No. 1: Jorgensen 1969: 24 (key; quantitative characters; female, male genitalia; fig. female wing, spermathecae, palpus, antenna, male parameres, genitalia; geographic distribution; Washington).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Pale to medium yellowish brown when fresh in alcohol. Wing pattern faint; r 2 dark; pale spots at ~0.5 on M 2, faint at ~0.3 on M 1 (pale spots on M 1 and M 2 of male wings sometimes so faint as to be inapparent); pale spots absent from r 3, absent from or faint in m 1, m 2; flagellomeres 9–10 normal, each larger than 8; SCo pattern 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, (10), 11–13; combined length of flagellomeres 7+8 less than 9; palpal sensory pit small, round, ~0.2 as deep as opening is wide, not enlarged internally; labrum without apical median projection; fore and hind tarsomeres without apical spines; scutellum with 8–10 setae on female, 7–9 on male; two ovoid spermathecae unequal by ~1.4, with sclerotized necks <0.5 as long as wide; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct; male tergite 9 posterior margin concave, with distinct apicolateral processes extending beyond medial portion; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite with two widely divergent processes, footlike; aedeagus Y-shaped, heavily sclerotized basal arms without submedian fingerlike lobes, arms posteromedially fused by moderate sclerotization, median process simple, aedeagal ratio ~0.6; parameres separate, each with fringe of four or five spines on apical third, without submedian lobe.

Distribution. Utah (Garfield, Grand counties). Wayne Kramer (personal communication) reports this species (as “n sp 25”) is present in Washington, Montana, Oregon, California, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona.

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). Like C. doeringae , this species was moderately common in light traps but nearly absent from CO 2 -baited traps ( Table 4).

Remarks. The SCo pattern, pale spots on midportions of M 1 and M 2, unequal spermathecae, footlike gonocoxal roots, simple aedeagus, and distal fringe of spines on the parameres place this species in the Piliferus group. The combination of reduced wing pattern, pale yellowish-brown color, SCo pattern, and antennal and proboscis ratios readily distinguish it from the other Piliferus group species collected. Because Jorgensen’s (1969: 24) descriptions of the female and of the male genitalia of his “ C. piliferus No. 1” (including his Fig. 8B 2 ) are so similar to Piliferus group species A in all aspects, I think they are conspecific. However, without examining material from the USNM (as species 25 [Wayne Kramer, personal communication]) and other collections to consider wider geographic variation, I think to formally describe this species now would be premature.

Four females—one in each of Blaine and Bonneville counties, Idaho, and Sanpete and San Juan counties, Utah —were similar except for being dark brown and with relatively faint wing pattern are listed in data Tables 7 and 9 as “near species A”. All were collected in higher altitude montane habitats. See the remarks for unplaced species F and for C. chewaclae and species B, the other Piliferus group species in this study with a reduced wing pattern and basic odd-numbered SCo pattern.

Figures

Figures 81–87. Male genitalia of Culicoides Piliferus group, ventral view. 81) C. cavaticus, focused on aedeagus. 82) C. cavaticus, focused on aedeagus arm base (Aab), basal head of paramere (Ph), ventral apodeme of gonocoxite (Gcva) (paratype, Sacramento County, CA [FSCA]). 83) C. cavaticus (Grand County, UT). 84) C. doeringae, focused on aedeagus. 85) C. doeringae, focused on basal head of paramere (Ph), ventral apodeme of gonocoxite (Gcva). 86, 87) C. Piliferus group species A variations.

Figures 3–8. Female wings with cells (lower case) and veins (upper case) labeled. 3) Culicoides stonei. 4) C. atchleyi (Bonneville County, ID). 5) Leptoconops torrens. Female abdomen, ventral view. 6) L. torrens. 7) C. stonei. 8) L. californiensis, dorsal habitus (in alcohol, Yuma County, AZ [Carl Olson, with permission]).

Figures 1–2. Female lateral habitus (in alcohol). 1) Leptoconops (Holoconops) Kerteszi group. 2) Culicoides (Monoculicoides) sonorensis.