Culicoides (Diphaomyia) inyoensis Wirth and Blanton

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 : 58

Culicoides (Diphaomyia) inyoensis Wirth and Blanton

( Fig. 75 , 128, 211, 212)

Culicoides (Diphaomyia) inyoensis Wirth and Blanton, 1969a: 565 (female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, leg, male genitalia, parameres; California). Atchley and Wirth 1979: 541 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, leg, male genitalia, parameres). Wirth et al. 1985: 18 (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, cua 1, but may be diffuse and indistinct; distal pale spot in r 3 centered at ~0.7 the distance from apex of costa to apex of M 1, extending into distal 0.1 of cell; M 1 dark; pale spot barely on M 2 at ~0.4, spreading anterior into m 1; spermathecae subequal, with sclerotized necks; 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 slightly tapering to blunt tip, aedeagal ratio ~0.5; parameres separate, each with bulbous submedian lobe and subapical fringe of spines.

Distribution. California, Utah (Garfield, Grand counties).

Adult behavior. The mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood; and though its hosts are unknown, the SCo presence on only the proximal flagellomeres suggests it is mammalophilic.

Symbionts. Male and female C. inyoensis were parasitized by larval mites ( Table 10), which species may indicate its pupal habitat or oviposition site.

Remarks. Wirth and Blanton (1969a) discuss C. inyoensis ’ similarity to Culicoides mohave Wirth , which have similar wing and SCo patterns. In the present study, I identified a female C. inyoensis collected by J. N. Belkin from Saratoga Spring, Death Valley, San Bernardino County, California, 30 May 1953, that had been misidentified as C. mohave . It seems likely other specimens identified as C. mohave before C. inyoensis ’ 1969 description are also misidentified.

The C. inyoensis type series was collected from Resting Springs, Inyo County, California, 29–30 May 1955, along with several C. mohave . Saratoga Spring is only 32 km away from and ~ 465 m lower than Resting Springs; thus, their habitats overlap in the Mojave Desert environment, with C. inyoensis ranging more northern into the Canyonlands of Utah and C. mohave more southern into the Sonoran Desert of Baja California.

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.