Culicoides (Diphaomyia) erikae Atchley 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 : 55

Culicoides (Diphaomyia) erikae Atchley and Wirth

( Fig. 76 , 129, 240, 271)

Culicoides (Diphaomyia) erikae Atchley and Wirth, 1979: 532 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; pupa; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, male antenna, parameres, genitalia; New Mexico). Wirth et al. 1985: 18 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern reduced; r 2 dark; distal pale spots absent from r 3, m 1, m 2, often cua 1; spermathecae with sclerotized necks ~2× longer than wide; sclerotized ring on spermathecal duct; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite with two widely divergent processes, footlike; basal arms of aedeagus each with spurlike process on posterior margin, median process of aedeagus narrow parallel-sided, aedeagal ratio ~0.4; parameres separate, each with bulbous submedian lobe and subapical fringe of spines.

Distribution. Utah (Box Elder, Grand, Uintah counties), Arizona, New Mexico. Nine of the 14 C. erikae collected were from 2436 m elevation in Uintah County ( Table 7), suggesting it is more common at higher elevations than were routinely sampled.

Larval ecology. Atchley collected or reared pupae from Silver Creek Canyon, Otero County, New Mexico, in May of 1973 and from Cedar Creek Canyon, Lincoln County, New Mexico, in June of 1973 but did not report details of the habitats ( Atchley and Wirth 1979).

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; however, its hosts are unknown.

Figures

Figures 73–78. Male genitalia of Culicoides subgenus Diphaomyia, ventral view. 73) C. defoliarti-haematopotus, focused on aedeagus (A), paramere (P). 74) C. defoliarti-haematopotus, focused on ventral apodemes of gonocoxites (Gcva) and median lobes on parameres (Pml). 75) C. inyoensis, posterior projections on basal arms of aedeagus circled.76) C. erikae, median lobes on parameres circled.77) C. salihi, focused on aedeagus and parameres, posterior projections on basal arms of aedeagus (App). 78) C. salihi, focused on posterior portion of ventral apodemes of gonocoxites, circled.