Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett)

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 : 50-51

publication ID

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

publication LSID

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

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E8511E53-FFEF-EF48-6A8A-FD9EFDE0FD32

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett)
status

 

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett) View in CoL

Ceratopogon sanguisuga Coquillett, 1901: 604 View in CoL (key; female; Maryland).

Culicoides sanguisuga (Coquillett) View in CoL : Kieffer 1906: 55 (combination). Malloch 1915: 301 (misspelled as sanguisugum; key; male, female; fig. female flagellomere, palpus, wing, male flagellomeres, genitalia).

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga View in CoL . Jamnback and Wirth 1963: 189 (key; female, male, pupa, larva; biology; fig. female head palpus, mandibular teeth, hind tibial spines, spermathecae, male genitalia, male pupa, female pupa, larva). Jamnback 1965: 91 (key; female; male genitalia; pupa; biology; fig. male genitalia, female wing, antenna, palpus, eye, pupa, larva). Childers and Wingo 1968: 16 (key; biology; fig. female wing, spermathecae). Battle and Turner 1971: 74 (female; male genitalia; larval habitats; feeding habits; seasonal distribution; fig. female eye separation, palpus, wing, spermathecae, male genitalia). Wirth et al. 1985: 14 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 319 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. thoracic pigmentation, head, epipharynx, hypostoma, mandible).

Culicoides obsoletus View in CoL , misidentified in part: Root and Hoffman 1937: 155 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. male genitalia is that of C. sanguisuga View in CoL ). Foote and Pratt 1954: 29 (key; fig. female palpus, male genitalia represent C. sanguisuga View in CoL ).

Culicoides (Culicoides) obsoletus View in CoL , misidentified in part: Khalaf 1954: 39 (assignment to subgenus Culicoides View in CoL ).

Culicoides (Avaritia) obsoletus View in CoL , misidentified in part: Fox 1955: 218, 248 (subgenus Avaritia Fox View in CoL ; key and diagnoses of subgenera; species diagnosis; taxonomy). Murray 1957 (biology).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern faint on distal third; pale spot over distal half of r 2 (as in Fig. 118 View Figures 117–125 , 177 C. obsoletus ); eyes contiguous, bare; superior transverse suture absent; palpal segment 3 with sensory pit; two ovoid subequal spermathecae, with necks and vestigial spermatheca; posterior margin of male sternite 9 cleft, without broad excavation; posterior margin of male tergite 9 convex, apicolateral processes absent; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, ~2× longer than dorsal apodeme, slender, ~7× longer than basal width; aedeagus broadly U-shaped, without sclerotized membrane between basal arms or sclerotized anterior-directed point at base of median process (similar to Fig. 65 C View Figures 63–65 . obsoletus, but with shallower arch and longer median process); median process with concave often spinulose tip; aedeagal ratio ~0.6; parameres separate, curved, apical portion simple pointed.

Distribution. Forested areas of Alaska east to Nova Scotia, south to Northern California and east to Georgia. Its period of synonymy with C. obsoletus has caused records prior to 1963 to be confused.

Larval ecology and life cycle. It is likely that some of the biological accounts for Nearctic C. obsoletus prior to 1963 apply to C. sanguisuga . Jamnback and Wirth (1963) report collecting immatures from piled leaves, forest litter, small piles of straw, a pile of spruce needles, twigs, and wood chips—all characterized by being dry on the surface and moist internally. Culicoides sanguisuga is univoltine in New York, with the larvae overwintering; the pupal stage lasts 3–6 d; there is some evidence the first generation is autogenous; females that engorged lay eggs 6–7 d later; and larvae hatch in ~5 d ( Jamnback and Watthews 1963).

Adult behavior. Murray’s (1957) report of C. obsoletus adults as most active on the edge of and in forested areas with peak nighttime activity during 0200–0500 hours, with season peaks mid-June to mid-July and late July to mid-August in Virginia and Hearle’s (1938) report of horse, cow, and human hosts for C. obsoletus are likely for C. sanguisuga ( Jamnback and Wirth 1963) .

Culicoides sanguisuga is a generalist feeder with a preference for larger mammals and birds ( Tanner and Turner 1974). It is a severe biting pest of humans ( Jamnback and Wirth 1963; Jamnback 1965; Battle and Turner 1971). Jamnback and Watthews (1963) described in detail its behavior while feeding on human hosts and found that diurnal biting activity was highest at dawn and dusk, though they did not attempt to determine nocturnal activity, which could have been higher.

Other reported hosts are cow ( Jamnback 1965; Schmidtmann et al. 1981; Zimmerman and Turner 1983), sheep ( Zimmerman and Turner 1983), goat, rabbit ( Humphreys and Turner 1973), cotton-tail rabbit ( Sylvilagus Gray , Leporidae ), guinea pig ( Cavia Pallas , Caviidae ), opossum ( Didelphis Linnaeus , Didelphidae ), rat ( Rattus Fischer de Waldheim , Muridae ), quail ( Colinus Goldfuss , Odontophoridae ), mourning dove ( Zenaida Bonaparte , Columbidae ), mallard ( Anas Linnaeus , Anatidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968), chicken ( Gallus Brisson , Phasianidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968; Humphreys and Turner 1973), turkey ( Meleagris Linnaeus , Phasianidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968; Humphreys and Turner 1973; Tanner and Turner 1974), grouse, blue jay, white-throated sparrow, horse ( Jamnback 1965), and little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus [Le Conte], Chiroptera ) ( Reeves et al. 2004).

Remarks. No specimens of C. sanguisuga were examined, and its seasonal distribution in Table 5 is entirely from eastern North American records.

Subgenus Beltranmyia Vargas

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Diptera

Family

Ceratopogonidae

Genus

Culicoides

Loc

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett)

Phillips, Robert A. 2022
2022
Loc

Culicoides (Avaritia) obsoletus

Fox I. 1955: 218
1955
Loc

Culicoides (Culicoides) obsoletus

Khalaf KT 1954: 39
1954
Loc

Culicoides sanguisuga (Coquillett)

Malloch JR 1915: 301
Kieffer JJ 1906: 55
1906
Loc

Ceratopogon sanguisuga

Coquillett DW 1901: 604
1901
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