Culicoides (Silvicola) neomontanus Wirth, 1976

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 : 93-94

Culicoides (Silvicola) neomontanus Wirth

( Fig. 70 , 123 , 182, 245, 288)

Culicoides (Culicoides) neomontanus Wirth, 1976 (new name for Culicoides montanus Wirth and Blanton , preoccupied by Shakirzjanova, 1962). Wirth et al. 1985: 10 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Culicoides cockerellii variety c: Wirth 1952a: 172 (female; male genitalia; California). Atchley 1967: 968 (comparison of female with C. cockerellii sensu stricto; New Mexico).

Culicoides (Culicoides) montanus Wirth and Blanton, 1969b: 225 (key; numerical characters; female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, wing, spermathecae, eye separation, male genitalia, parameres; Utah: Beaver, Cache, Duchesne, Uintah counties). Jorgensen 1969 (as species 44): 34 (key; quantitative characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, spermathecae, palpus, antenna, male genitalia, parameres; seasonal distribution; Washington).

Culicoides (Silvicola) montanus: 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, but with distal stripes and pale spots indistinct; pale spot over at least distal half of r 2; cua 1 without central dark spot; hourglass-shaped distal dark spot in r 3 usually not darker than other distal dark patches; eyes contiguous for 1–2 ommatidium diameters; superior transverse suture present; palpal segment 3 with scattered sensilla instead of pit; scutum sometimes with faint pattern; tibiae without pale bands; fore and hind tarsomeres with apical spines; spermathecae subequal; 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 moderately strong black setae on mesal surface; aedeagus V-shaped, median process triangular, tapering, aedeagal ratio ~0.3; parameres separate, apices slender, posteriorly directed, with fringe of tiny hairs at tip.

Egg morphology. One female I collected from Montrose County, Colorado, contained a single 617 µm × 80 µm egg (Fig. 288), which is considerably larger than the range of 285–515 µm × 41–75 µm reported for some other Culicoides species (Breidenbaugh and Mullens 1991 a, 1991b; Day et al. 1997; Cribb and Chitra 1998; Abubekerov and Mullens 2018).

Distribution. British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, south through Washington, Idaho (Blaine and Custer counties, new state record), Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Utah (Beaver, Cache, Duchesne, San Juan, Sanpete, Summit, Uintah, Wasatch counties), Wyoming, Colorado (Montrose County, new state record), to California, Arizona, New Mexico. The Colorado record is of 50 males and 32 females collected with UVLT on 30 July 2020 at 38.32234°W and 108.18359°W and 2934 m elevation on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Colorado.

Larval ecology. McMullen (1978) found C. neomontanus (as C. montanus ) to be univoltine, with peak adult abundance from late June until mid-July, and reared it in greatest abundance from pH 6.8–8.2 pond watersaturated and heavily cattle-manured soil ~ 1 m from the water’s edge in British Columbia.

Adult behavior. Known hosts are human, jackrabbit ( Wirth and Blanton 1969b, as C. montanus ), cow, and horse ( Jorgensen 1969, as species 44; however, the horse record in his Table 6 is contradicted in the text).

Remarks. Some of the specimens of female C. neomontanus collected in San Juan County, Utah, and Montrose County, Colorado —identified by having SCo on some of flagellomeres 3–8 and eyes contiguous for>0.4 ommatidium diameter—had relatively distinct wing patterns typical for C. cockerellii or C. sierrensis or indistinct to distinct pale basal hind tibial banding typical for C. sierrensis . This caused some uncertainty for the several C. neomontanus males with similar wing pattern variations or pale hind tibial banding in the same collection. This suggests these diagnostic characters have considerable variability and throws into doubt the status of these species. See also subgenus Silvicola discussion and C. cockerellii and C. sierrensis remarks.

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]).