Leptoconops (Holoconops) sublettei Clastrier and Wirth

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 : 25

Leptoconops (Holoconops) sublettei Clastrier and Wirth

( Fig. 30, 31 )

Leptoconops (Holoconops) sublettei Clastrier and Wirth, 1978: 36 (key; female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, gonostyli, palpus; Texas).

Leptoconops (Holoconops) kerteszi , misidentified: Wirth 1952a: 113 (in part; key; female; male genitalia; biology; Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado). Fox 1955: 263 (key; taxonomy). Jones 1965 (collection from sheep).

Diagnosis. ( Table 13) Body light brown, femora brown, tibiae paler, fore tibiae broadly yellowish apically, all tarsomeres 1–2 yellowish; clypeus with four setae, median pair ≥0.8 as far apart from each other as from corresponding lateral setae and out-of-line distad of lateral setae by <0.3 their distance apart (as in Fig. 10 L . knowltoni); palpal segment 3 sensory pit as deep as wide, broadening internally on female; mid tarsomere 1 without submedian spine. Female: stigma triangular, pointed; antenna with 11 flagellomeres; flagellomere 11 without submedian black seta; flagellomere 4 dorsal hyaline sensory seta distal and medial to long black seta, out of axial alignment with corresponding sensory setae on flagellomeres 5–10; palpal segment 3 sensory pit opening half the diameter of the interior; hind tarsomere 3 ~1.7× longer than 5; spermathecae somewhat pyriform, with caplike diverticulum (as in Fig. 28 L . foulki); cerci>3× longer than wide ( Fig. 1 ). Male: tergite 9 with distal shoulders abruptly narrowed to base of adjacent apicolateral processes, without dorsal process, ventro-posterior setae separated by ~2× as much as separation of apicolateral processes (as in Fig. 20 L . knowltoni); gonostylus with three ventral setae within 0.4–0.6 of gonostylus length, apical lamelliform expansion barely covering apical tooth (as in Fig. 23 L . foulki); apical dilation of paramere with proximal tooth broadly triangular; tarsomere 5 basal seta long and doubly curved, almost decumbent (as in Fig. 25 L . knowltoni).

Distribution. Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, south through Utah (Grand, San Juan, Washington ( Monarch 2021) counties, new state record), Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas.

Adult behavior. Clastrier and Wirth (1978) reported specimens collected from a magpie nest, and while biting humans, sheep, and deer. I collected six female L. sublettei biting midday on 30 March 2003 in Hunter Canyon, 9 km south-southwest of Moab, San Juan County (38.4990°N 109.5843°W), and one female biting my ear midday on 23 April 2000 in Spanish Valley, Grand County (38.5274°N 109.4997°W), 7 km southeast of Moab.

Leptoconops sublettei has the longest season of any Leptoconops species in Grand County (Table 5), and its bimodal distribution suggests it is bivoltine or has a summer diapause. The abundance of L. sublettei females and the absence of males in the collections indicates that traps were not near their larval habitats.

Remarks. Leptoconops sublettei is most similar to L. foulki . Primary morphological distinctions for the females are flagellomere 4 sensory seta alignment, palpal segment 3 sensory pit opening diameter, and body and leg color. Based on these characters—principally the flagellar sensory setae alignment— 20 females from Utah were identified as L. sublettei .

Figures

Figures 27–32. Female Leptoconops. 27) L. knowltoni flagellomeres 9–11, median black seta (s). Spermathecae (sp), diverticulum (d), neck (spn). 28) L. foulki. 29) L. americanus. 30) L. sublettei flagellomeres 3–6, flagellomere 4 seta bases (sb), hyaline sensory seta (hss). Palpal segment 3. 31) L. sublettei. 32) L. foulki.

Figures 9–15. 9) Leptoconops americanus female clypeus, setae (s). 10) L. knowltoni female clypeus. 11) L. knowltoni female palpal segment 3. 12) L. carteri female palpal segment 3 (Yolo County, CA). 13) L. werneri female tarsomeres 4–5 and claw (paratype, Imperial County, CA [UCRC]). 14) L. werneri male genitalia, ventral view, tergite 9 apicolateral processes (T9alp), meso-posterior lobe setae (s) (Riverside County, CA [UCRC]). 15) L. belkini male genitalia, ventral view, tergite 9 sclerotized lobe (L) (Riverside County, CA [UCRC]).

Figures 1–2. Female lateral habitus (in alcohol). 1) Leptoconops (Holoconops) Kerteszi group. 2) Culicoides (Monoculicoides) sonorensis.

Figures 20–26. 20) Leptoconops knowltoni male genitalia, ventral view, aedeagus (A), parameres (P), tergite 9 ventro-posterior setae (s), apicolateral processes (T9alp), gonostylus apical lamelliform expansion (Gsle). 21) L. foulki male genitalia, ventral view. 22) L. knowltoni gonostylus, ventral setae (vs). 23 L. foulki gonostylus. 24) L. foulki parameres (P), proximal tooth (t). Male tarsomere 5, basal seta (bS). 25) L. knowltoni. 26) L. foulki.