Culicoides (Amossovia) californiensis 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 : 45

Culicoides (Amossovia) californiensis Wirth and Blanton

( Fig. 100 . 154, 190, 247, 291)

Culicoides californiensis Wirth and Blanton, 1967: 215 (key; female, male, pupa; fig. female wing, antenna, palpus, eye separation, spermathecae, leg, pupal respiratory trumpet, male genitalia, parameres; California). Wirth et al. 1985: 20 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 329 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. mandible, epipharynx).

Culicoides (Amossovia) californiensis: Borkent and Grogan 2009: 12 (in Nearctic catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Yellowish coppery-brown; wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3 medially constricted and roughly 8-shaped; pale spots straddling at ~0.25 on M 1 and ~0.4 on M 2; CuA 1 and CuA 2 within dark areas except at tip of CuA 1; pore of sensory pit on palpal segment 3>0.5 the diameter of segment; prominent pale bands basal and subapical on all femora and tibiae; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; aedeagus nearly V-shaped, median process broad triangular with lateral caudally directed spines on midsection, tapering to small blunt tip; parameres separate, apices simple, thick bladelike, pointed.

Distribution. California, Arizona, Utah (Grand County).

Larval ecology and adult behavior. Culicoides californiensis has been reared from cottonwood treeholes ( Wirth and Blanton 1967), and the mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood. Furthermore, though its larval habitat is arboreal, its frequent collection in low-level CO 2 -baited traps ( Table 4) suggests it is a mammalophilic, ground-dwelling bird, or generalist feeder.

Atypical biology. Of thirteen females and seven males that were slide-mounted, one male has an irregularly disseminated granular infuscation through the thorax and abdomen—possibly by an infection (Fig. 291, Table 11); and two have a third ovoid spermatheca, 0.4 as large as the others, instead of a shriveled vestigial third ( Table 12).

Figures

Figures 100–103. Male genitalia of Culicoides, ventral view. 100) C. californiensis, left edge of paramere (P), right edge of aedeagus (A), lateral aedeagal spines (As). 101) C. cochisensis (Cochise County, AZ [UCRC]). 102) C. oklahomensis, aedeagus filaments circled (LA [FSCA]). 103) C. pampoikilus (Cochise County, AZ [UCRC]).