Culicoides palmerae James

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 : 104-105

Culicoides palmerae James

( Fig. 92 , 146, 225, 277, 283)

Culicoides palmerae James, 1943: 151 (female, male; fig. male genitalia, seasonal abundance; Colorado). Knowlton and Fronk 1950: 114 (Utah: Cache County). Wirth 1952a: 191 (diagnosis; fig. female lateral view, palpus). Bullock 1952: 15 (female; male genitalia; fig. male genitalia; Utah: Salt Lake County). Rees and Bullock 1954 (Utah: Salt Lake County). Foote and Pratt 1954: 30 (female wing, male genitalia; fig. female wing, mesonotum, palpus, male genitalia).

Culicoides (Oecacta) palmerae: Khalaf 1954: 38 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 250 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Atchley 1967: 1008 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, male genitalia, parameres). Jorgensen 1969: 22 (key; quantitative characters; female; male genitalia; seasonal distribution; fig. female antenna, spermathecae, palpus, wing, male genitalia, parameres). Wirth and Rowley 1971: 164 (numerical characters; key; female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; Utah: Cache, Uintah counties). Wirth et al. 1985: 26 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern extensive; r 2 dark; large distal pale spots in r 3, m 1, m 2, sometimes indistinct; scutellum about same brown as scutum; fore and hind tarsomeres with apical spines; spermathecae subequal, without sclerotized necks; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; basal portion of gonostylus abruptly bent ~90°, L-shaped; aedeagus not V-shaped, median process broad, with wide shoulders abruptly constricting to a narrow tip; parameres separate, apices strongly curved back anteriorly with sharp 90° elbowlike bend or protuberance at ~0.8 and sharp tip sometimes with tiny divergent apical spines.

Distribution. British Columbia, Alberta ( Lysyk 2006), Montana, North Dakota ( Anderson and Holloway 1993), south through Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, to California, Nevada, Utah (Cache, Grand, Salt Lake, Summit, Uintah counties), New Mexico.

Adult behavior. Bullock (1952) collected C. palmerae adults May– August in Salt Lake County ; and Barnard and Jones (1980b) reported that adults were active May–September and mostly during daylight hours in Weld County, Colorado. However , little else is known about the biology of this species other than that the mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood .

Remarks. The Palmerae group females that were not slide-mounted, and thus not identified to species, are listed as “unidentified”, though they have the typical C. palmerae wing pattern. In addition, all but 2 of the 94 Palmerae group males collected were identified as C. palmerae , thus it is likely most of these unidentified females are also C. palmerae .

Figures

Figures 88–93. Male genitalia of Culicoides, ventral view. 88) C. luglani, submedian processes of parameres circled. 89) C. crepuscularis, ventral apodeme of gonocoxite circled. 90) C. calexicanus, apices of parameres circled, apex of aedeagus delineated. 91) C. hawsi (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]). 92) C. palmerae, sharp lateral shoulders on median process of aedeagus indicated (A). 93) C. utahensis.