Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens, 1006

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 : 47

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6391684

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CBD29188-143B-44DF-BE21-1654D50D8621

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6391754

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E8511E53-FFEC-EF4C-6A8A-FE68FE4FFA37

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens
status

 

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens View in CoL

( Fig. 63 View Figures 63–65 , 117 View Figures 117–125 , 175)

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens, 1992: 1006 View in CoL (female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; California). Breidenbaugh and Mullens 1999a: 851 (egg, larva, pupa; fig. egg, larval head, mouthparts, thorax, caudal segment, pupal respiratory trumpet, operculum, caudal segment, chaetotaxy). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 28 (in Neotropical catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern faint on distal third; pale spot over distal half of r 2; eyes contiguous, with sparse interommatidial pubescence on dorsal portions; superior transverse suture absent; palpal segment 3 with sensory pit; two ovoid subequal spermathecae, with necks and vestigial spermatheca ( Wirth and Mullens [1992] describe C. boydi with “vestigial third spermatheca absent”; however, five of five specimens provided to me by Bradley Mullens had a fingerlike vestigial third spermatheca); posterior margin of male sternite 9 with broad caudomedian excavation; posterior margin of male tergite 9 concave with square lateral corners; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, ~2× longer than dorsal apodeme, slender, 5–7× longer than basal width (original description says ventral apodeme “short and pointed” and illustrates it as about as long as basal width; however, two of two specimens from original series show otherwise); aedeagus with sclerotized membrane between arms, aedeagal ratio ~0.3, basal arms forming pointed lateral shoulders and a median sclerotized anterior-directed point at base of triangular median process; parameres separate, apices simple curved pointed.

Distribution. California, Baja California.

Adult behavior. Culicoides boydi has been collected biting desert bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis nelsoni ) and human ears ( Wirth and Mullens 1992), and Mullens and Dada (1992b) found activity peaks April–June and October.

Life cycle. Parity rates of females collected in CO 2 -baited traps averaged 13% ( Wirth and Mullens 1992); and laboratory studies by Breidenbaugh and Mullens (1999a) found that a single wild-caught female laid 95 eggs, which hatched in 5 d at 21–25 °C. The larvae fed on the bacterial-feeding nematode Pelodera Schneider (Rhabditidae) , and started pupating 24 d after hatch.

Symbionts. Mullens et al. (1997b) experimented with the potential biocontrol parasitic nematode, Heleidomermis magnapapula Poinar and Mullens (Stichosomida: Mermithidae ) in the laboratory and found it readily entered, infected, developed, and emerged from and killed C. boydi larvae.

Remarks. Willis Wirth referred to this species as new species number 63 (Bradley Mullens, personal communication).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Ceratopogonidae

Genus

Culicoides

Loc

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens

Phillips, Robert A. 2022
2022
Loc

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi

Borkent A & Spinelli GR 2000: 28
Breidenbaugh MS & Mullens BA 1999: 851
Wirth WW & Mullens BA 1992: 1006
1992
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