Dasyhelea atlantis Wirth and Williams

William L. Grogan, Jr., Hribar, Lawrence J., Murphree, C. Steven & Cilek, James E., 2010, New records of biting and predaceous midges from Florida, including species new to the fauna of the United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (147), pp. 1-59 : 21

Dasyhelea atlantis Wirth and Williams

Dasyhelea atlantis Wirth and Williams, 1957: 11 ( Bermuda) ; Waugh and Wirth 1976: 245 (revision of eastern United States Dasyhelea Kieffer ; distribution); Borkent and Grogan 2009: 11 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution).

Discussion. Wirth and Williams (1957) described this species from Bermuda specimens collected by light traps and reared from larvae and pupae, and reported that it was among the most commonly collected species in their study. Williams (1957) published habitat data for a number of Ceratopogonidae from Bermuda and noted that immature stages of D. atlantis were collected from strands of seaside purslane, Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.). This species has only been recorded in Florida from Indian River Co. ( Wilkening et al. 1985). We provide the first records from Monroe Co. that includes a male reared from a pupa collected on seaside purslane.

New records. Monroe Co., Long Key , 1-XI-2007, L. Hribar, ex. strand of sea purslane, 1 male with pupal exuviae ; Big Pine Key , Driftwood Ct., 1 April 2008, E. Wirsching, light trap, 1 male ; No Name Key , 2 Feb. 2009 ; D. DeMay , 3 males, 2 females ( FLKC; WLGC) .