Culicoides (Silvicola) neofagineus 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 : 93

Culicoides (Silvicola) neofagineus Wirth and Blanton

( Fig. 69 , 122 , 181, 244)

Culicoides (Culicoides) neofagineus Wirth and Blanton, 1969b: 227 (key; numerical characters; female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; Arizona). Wirth et al. 1985: 10 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 312 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. head, thorax, epipharynx, hypostoma, mandible, caudal segment).

Culicoides (Silvicola) neofagineus: Mirzaeva and Isaev 1990: 156 in English translation (as part of Cockerellii group, assignment to new subgenus Silvicola ).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern extensive, with distinct distal stripes and pale spots; pale spot over at least distal half of r 2; cua 1 without central dark spot; eyes contiguous for ~2 ommatidium diameters; superior transverse suture present; palpal segment 3 with wide shallow, irregular, often subdivided sensory pit, often with scattered sensilla; scutum with prominent pattern; scutellum with ~17 setae on female, 10–13 on male; hind tibiae with basal pale band ~2× longer than wide; fore and hind tarsomeres without apical spines; spermathecae subequal to unequal by 1.2×; male tergite 9 with tiny apicolateral processes not projecting beyond median lobe; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite shorter than dorsal apodeme, strongly tapered, pointed, 1–2× as long as basal width; gonocoxite with strong black spines on mesal surface; aedeagus somewhat Y-shaped, median process abruptly narrowing on distal half to slender fingerlike tip, aedeagal ratio ~0.6; parameres separate, apices slen- der, posteriorly directed, with fringe of tiny hairs at tip.

Distribution. Oregon, California, southeastern Arizona, New Mexico (new state record [ Monarch 2021]).

Larval ecology. William C. Reeves reared C. neofagineus from a sycamore treehole ( Wirth and Blanton 1969b), and E. S. Tikasingh reared it from treehole “humus”. Woodward et al. (1988) collected adults from emergence traps over treeholes in oaks ( Quercus kelloggii Newberry and Q. wislizenii Candolle , Fagaceae ) from early April through August in Northern California.

Adult behavior. Adult females have been collected from the ear of a deer, from a quail-baited drop trap ( Wirth and Blanton 1969b), and while biting a human ( Wirth 1977).

Figures

Figures 66–72. Male genitalia of Culicoides subgenus Silvicola, ventral view. 66) C. cockerellii (Bonneville County, ID). 67) C. freeborni (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 68) C. lahontan. 69) C. neofagineus (paratype, Mendocino County, CA [FSCA]). 70) C. neomontanus, basal and apical tips of aedeagus triangulated. 71) C. saltonensis (Imperial County, CA [FSCA]). 72) C. sierrensis (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]).

Figures 117–125. Male wings of Culicoides subgenera Avaritia and Silvicola. 117) C. boydi (in grayscale) (Riverside County, CA [BM]). 118) C. obsoletus (MD [FSCA]). 119) C. cockerellii (Bonneville County, ID). 120) C. freeborni (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 121) C. lahontan. 122) C. neofagineus (in grayscale) (paratype, Mendocino County, CA [FSCA]). 123) C. neomontanus. 124) C. saltonensis (Imperial County, CA [FSCA]). 125) C. sierrensis (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]).