Simulium (Nevermannia) ruficorne Macquart, 1838

Crosskey, R. W. & BÁez, M., 2004, A synopsis of present knowledge of the Simuliidae (Diptera) of the Canary Islands, including keys to the larval and pupal stages, Journal of Natural History 38 (16), pp. 2085-2117 : 2093-2095

Simulium (Nevermannia) ruficorne Macquart

Material from breeding sites

Fuerteventura: Site F1—1„, 8 larvae (April 1996) ( MB) . Site F2—4„(z), 2”(z) (27 February 1990) ( MB) . Gomera: Site G1— 21 pupae, 75 larvae, 4 June 1990 ( RWC) . Site G4—11„(2z), 9”(2z), 176 pupae, 25 larvae (6–7 June 1990) ( RWC) . Site G5— 4 pupae, 8 larvae (6 June 1990) ( RWC) . Site G6—1”(z), 126 pupae, 74 larvae (5 June 1990). Site G7— 18 pupae, 28 larvae (5 June 1990) ( RWC) . Site G8— 2 pupae (29 March 1978) ( MB) . Gran Canaria: Site GC 1—larvae present (20 November 1995) ( BM / ANN) . Site GC2—larvae present (20 March 1995) ( BM / ANN) . Site GC6— 500 immatures in sample (18 November 1995) ( BM / ANN) . Site GC16—1„(z), 1”(z), 14 pupae, 39 larvae (23 April 1996) ( RWC) . Site GC19— larvae present (31 March 1994) ( BM / ANN) . Site GC20— 55 immatures in sample (31 March 1994) ( BM / ANN) . Site GC21—3„(z), 2”(z), 38 pupae, 46 larvae (21 April 1996) ( RWC) , 141 and 188 immatures in samples (1 April 1994 and 17 November 1995) ( BM / ANN) . Tenerife: Site T1— 9 pupae, 56 larvae (12 April 1991) and 10 pupae, 736 larvae (8 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T2— 7 larvae (10 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T3— 7 larvae (10 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T5—2„(z), 53 pupae, 153 larvae (7 April 1983) ( RWC) ; 1 pupa, 36 larvae (9 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T6—2„(z), 53 pupae, 153 larvae [some to D. G. Bedo for chromosomal study], 7 April 1983 ( RWC); 1„(z), 26 pupae, 50 larvae (14 June 1990) ( RWC) . Site T7— 3 larvae (9 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T8—5„(z), 5”(z), 18 pupae, 113 larvae (8 April 1983) ( RWC) , 31 larvae (1 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T9— 3 pupae, 40 larvae [most to D. G. Bedo for chromosomal study] (8 April 1983) ( RWC) ; 1 pupa, 5 larvae (1 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T10— 1 larva (9 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T11— 4 pupae, 16 larvae (23 December 1970) ( HD) . Site T12— 13 larvae (10 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T13— 9 larvae (15 June 1990) ( RWC) . Site T14— 3 pupae, 25 larvae (14 December 1985) ( PDA) , 1 pupa, 19 larvae (2 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) and 1 larva (14 April 2001) ( MB) . Site T16— 24 larvae (5 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T17—1„, 1”, 5 pupae, 54 larvae (4 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T18—1”(z) (27 August 1974) ( MB) . Site T19— 8 larvae (5 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T20— 9 pupae, 11 larvae (8 April 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T21— 22 larvae (3 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T22— 21 larvae (4 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T24— 15 pupae, 19 larvae (15 April 1991) and 11 pupae, 503 larvae (31 October 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T25—1„(z), 3”(z) (9 November 1980) ( MB) . Site T26— 3 pupae, 18 larvae (9 April 1991) and 1 pupa, 24 larvae (6 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) . Site T27— 14 pupae, 163 larvae (13 April 1991) and 4 pupae, 388 larvae (2 or 4 November 1991) ( BM / ANN / MB) .

Remarks

This species probably has the widest geographical range of all simuliids and is the only one found in both the Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions. The distribution is summarized and mapped in Crosskey et al. (2002). In the Canaries archipelago, since the earlier account by Crosskey (1988b), breeding sites have been found in Fuerteventura (Báez, 1996) and Gran Canaria (Nilsson et al., 1998), islands from which immature stages had not previously been known. There is currently no evidence for breeding in La Palma island, but the collection of the Zoological Museum in Helsinki contains a pinned male and a pinned female of S. ruficorne collected by R. Frey at Los Llanos in August 1931. In Tenerife, by contrast, the species is common and has been found at 24 of the 27 positive simuliid breeding sites located in the island.

The silk gland polytene chromosomes have been studied by Bedo (1989) on the basis of material from the West African mainland ( Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), the Cape Verdes (Santiago Island) and the Canaries. Some chromosomal polymorphism was evident but, because of allopatry, there was no satisfactory evidence that S. ruficorne (despite the well-known variability in the pupal gills shape: Crosskey and Büttiker, 1982) is a species complex. The Canarian material investigated chromosomally was obtained (by RWC) from sites T6 and T 9 in Tenerife and found to be essentially identical at these sites. Whether larvae from other islands of the archipelago will conform to the cytological data provided by Bedo for ‘Tenerife cytotype’ has still to be investigated. Comparison with nearestmainland populations in Morocco should also be made.