Culicoides reevesi Wirth

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 : 99-100

Culicoides reevesi Wirth

( Fig. 56–62 , 292)

Culicoides reevesi Wirth, 1952a: 193 (key; female; fig. female wing; California). Fox 1955: 253 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Wirth and Blanton 1956: 51 (female; fig. female wing, palpus, hind tibial comb, spermatheca, mesonotum; assignment to Leoni Group of subgenus Oecacta ). Atchley 1967: 1002 (key; numerical characters; female; fig. female wing, palpus, tibial comb, spermatheca, antennal segments). Grogan et al. 2004: 433 (diagnosis, female, male; fig. female, antenna, palpus, wing, spermatheca, sternite 8, male antenna, wing, genitalia, parameres; seasonal abundance; biting records; reassignment to Leoni group, subgenus unplaced).

Culicoides (Haematomyidium) reevesi: Wirth et al. 1985: 28 (numerical characters; fig. female wing; placement in subgenus Haematomyidium ).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3, ovoid, not reaching wing margin; eyes with interommatidial pubescence; flagellomeres 9–10 on both sexes much shorter and narrower than any others; one ovoid spermatheca with sclerotized neck longer than wide; male tergite 9 apicolateral processes prominent; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite with two widely divergent processes, footlike; aedeagus broadly V-shaped, arm spread wider than aedeagus length, median process short tapered blunt, with pair of pointed clawlike lateral subapical processes that extend past apex; parameres separate, each with submedian lobe and subapical fringe of spines.

Distribution. California, Utah (Grand County), Arizona, New Mexico.

Larval ecology. Immatures and their habitats are unknown despite intensive efforts to locate them in Lake County, California (Dave Woodward, personal communication). Collections in California and Utah were associated with oak ( Quercus Linnaeus , Fagaceae ) woodlands ( Grogan et al. 2004). However, the females I collected in Grant County, New Mexico, were in a Gila River riparian woodland with silty soil, surrounded by upper Chihuahuan Desert, and dominated by Arizona sycamore ( Platanus wrightii S. Watson , Platanaceae ), Fremont poplar ( Populus fremontii S. Watson , Salicaceae ), and willows ( Salix Linnaeus , Salicaceae ), with Juniperus Linnaeus (Cupressaceae) , mesquite ( Prosopis Linnaeus , Fabaceae ), catclaw ( Senegalia greggii [A. Gray] Britton and Rose, Fabaceae ), and few if any oaks. Because C. reevesi is not photophilic ( Table 4), the New Mexico collections with UVLT and while biting suggest a high population; and there seemed to be an unusually large number of nearby mouse-size rodent burrows, which may be adult harborage or a rather novel larval habitat.

Experiments have shown that inter-ommatidial pubescence helps protect insect eyes by reducing impact and deposition of airborne particles onto ommatidia ( Amador et al. 2015). Similarly, C. reevesi ’s eye hairs may help prevent soil particles from lodging between or damaging ommatidia, suggesting a relatively dry or deep soil larval habitat such as that of L. carteri —the only other southwestern species of biting midge with abundant inter-ommatidial pubescence for which the larval habitat is known. Furthermore, the relatively small adult body size of C. reevesi may facilitate egress from a coarsely granular soil habitat.

Adult behavior. Wirth (1952a), Atchley (1967), and Grogan et al. (2004) reported C. reevesi can be a significant human-biting pest. Though none were found biting in Utah, I collected a female biting the back of my hand at ~1630 on 15 October 2019 at 32.84753°N 108.59258°W and 1332 m elevation in the New Mexico habitat described above. The sensation was that of a minute burning-hot needle. The bite itself lasted about a minute until I was able to collect the midge and left a painless erythematous 1 cm spot that later resembled a bruise. The only other reported host is black-tailed deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) ( Hopken et al. 2017).

Symbionts. Two nematode-parasitized female intersex specimens were collected (Fig. 292, Table 11). Both lacked spermathecae but otherwise seemed to be normal females. The specific worms may indicate C. reevesi ’s pupal habitat or oviposition site.

Remarks. Partial gene sequences were determined for a C. reevesi specimen by Hopkin et al. (2017) for comparison with C. occidentalis and C. sonorensis and their blood-meal analyses.

Subgenus unplaced, Limai group

Figures

Figures 56–62. Culicoides reevesi. 56) Female wing. 57) Male wing. 58) Female antennal flagellomeres 9 (f9) and 10 (f10). 59) Male antennal flagellomeres 9 (f9) and 10 (f10). 60) Female head. 61) Male genitalia, ventral view, focused on left paramere (P). 62) Focused on aedeagus, tip (At), subapical processes (Asp) (Lake County, CA).