Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) sitiens Wirth and Hubert

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 : 66

Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) sitiens Wirth and Hubert

( Fig. 108 , 162, 202, 248, 255)

Culicoides (Oecacta) sitiens Wirth and Hubert, 1960: 652 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; California).

Culicoides (Drymodesmyia) sitiens: Wirth 1965: 131 (placement in subgenus Drymodesmyia ). Atchley 1967: 981 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, tibial comb, male genitalia, parameres). Wirth et al. 1985: 16 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Wirth et al. 1988: 28 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 31 (in Neotropical catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Dark brown; wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3 bilobed and 8-shaped; pale spots at ~0.3 on M 1 and ~0.5 on M 2; tips of M 1, M 2 pale; CuA 1 and CuA 2 within dark areas except at tip of CuA 1; pore of sensory pit on palpal segment 3 <0.3 the diameter of segment, widening internally; combined distal five flagellomeres (including intersegmental spaces) on female distinctly longer than combined proximal eight; tibiae without subapical pale band; spermathecae unequal by ~1.1×, ~1.3× longer than wide, opening ~0.3 as wide as spermatheca, without necks; mean male wing length 0.98 mm (n = 5); ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 not spiculate; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; aedeagus V-shaped, straight-sided until flaring truncate tip ~0.25 width of arm spread, aedeagal ratio ~0.3; parameres separate, apices simple pointed bent back hooklike.

Distribution. California, Utah (Grand County), Arizona, New Mexico, Baja California. Culicoides sitiens seems to be the Sonoran Desert counterpart to the closely related Chihuahuan Desert inhabiting C. jonesi .

Larval ecology. Culicoides sitiens has been reared from Opuntia and Pachycereus schottii rot holes ( Ryckman 1960; Wirth and Hubert 1960).

Adult behavior. Known hosts are Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica ) and domestic rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) ( Mullens and Dada 1992a).

Figures

Figures 104–109. Male genitalia of Culicoides subgenus Drymodesmyia, ventral view. 104) C. butleri (Greenlee County, AZ). 105) C. butleri (Gila County, AZ [FSCA]). 106) C. cacticola, bottom of basal arch of aedeagus delineated (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 107) C. jonesi (Greenlee County, AZ). 108) C. sitiens. 109) C. torridus, height (h) of basal arch of aedeagus indicated (San Diego County, CA [BM]).