Culicoides luglani Jones and 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 : 100-101

Culicoides luglani Jones and Wirth

( Fig. 88 , 141, 206)

Culicoides luglani Jones and Wirth, 1958: 89 (female, male; fig. female wing, mesonotum, spermathecae, palpus, male genitalia, parameres; Texas). Atchley 1967: 990 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; variation; fig. female wing, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres). Wirth et al. 1985: 18 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Wirth et al. 1988: 30 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 38 (in Neotropical catalog).

Culicoides new species near haematopotus: Wirth and Bottimer 1956: 265 (biology).

Culicoides tenuilobus Wirth and Blanton, 1959: 354 (key; quantitative characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, mesonotum, palpus, tibial comb, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; Panama). Wirth 1963: 68 (synonym). Atchley 1967: 990 (not synonym; see remarks). Wirth et al. 1988: 36 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 40 (in Neotropical catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; pale spot in r 3 nearly filling distal third of cell; M 1 dark; spot pattern on M 2 distinctive: dark spot on basal 0.4, symmetric dart-shaped pale spot on 0.4–0.8, dark 0.8 to end; all femora with prominent subapical pale band; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; median process of aedeagus with pair of pointed elongate parallel lateral subapical processes (these often difficult to see); parameres separate, each with submedian elongate curved pointed thornlike process and subapical fringe of spines.

Distribution. California, Utah (Garfield, Grand counties), Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Baja California, Sonora. The report for Florida in Wirth et al. 1985 was an error corrected in Wirth et al. 1988 —possibly from the similarity of the name of Culicoides loughnani Edwards , which is an unrelated Florida, Texas, and West Indies species. If C. tenuilobus is a synonym, C. luglani would also have an El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama distribution (see remarks).

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female and collection in CO 2 -baited traps indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; and though its hosts are unknown, the SCo presence on only the proximal flagellomeres suggests it is mammalophilic. Furthermore, the relatively high proportion of males collected with CO 2 -baited traps ( Table 4) suggests they seek hosts to find females for mating.

Remarks. Wirth (1963) demoted C. tenuilobus to junior synonym of C. luglani ; however, Atchley (1967) both contradicts and cites Wirth (1963) on this synonymy, and none of the catalogs ( Borkent and Wirth 1997; Borkent and Spinelli 2000; Borkent and Grogan 2009; Borkent and Dominiak 2020) list these species as synonyms or reference Wirth (1963). Indeed, these catalogs place C. luglani in the Daedalus group and C. tenuilobus in the Limai group. Comparisons of the descriptions and wing photographs of these two species indicate they should be placed in the same species group and suggest their status needs clarification. The similarity of wing pattern, SCo pattern, lateral processes on the median process of the aedeagus, and submedian process and fringe of spines on the parameres support Atchley’s (1967) tentative placement of C. luglani with C. tenuilobus in the Limai group, which is followed here (new status).

Subgenus unplaced, Mohave group

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.