Culicoides (Amossovia) oklahomensis Khalaf, 1952

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 : 46

Culicoides (Amossovia) oklahomensis Khalaf

( Fig. 102 , 156, 192)

Culicoides villosipennis oklahomensis Khalaf, 1952a: 355 (male; Oklahoma).

Culicoides (Oecacta) villosipennis oklahomensis: Khalaf 1954: 37 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta Poey ). Fox 1955: 260 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Khalaf 1957: 212 (diagnosis; key; biology).

Culicoides (Oecacta) oklahomensis: Jones and Wirth 1958: 82 (status; diagnosis; key). Atchley 1967: 1006 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, male genitalia, parameres).

Culicoides oklahomensis: Wirth and Blanton 1967: 223 (rejection of placement in subgenus Oecacta ; key; female, male; fig. female antenna, wing, palpus, leg, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres). Childers and Wingo 1968: 16 (key; fig. female wing, spermathecae). Khalaf 1969: 1160 (diagnosis). Wirth et al. 1985: 20 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Wirth et al. 1988: 30 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 334 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. epipharynx, hypostoma, mandible, caudal segment). Lamberson et al. 1992: 116 (key; pupa; fig. respiratory trumpet, operculum, abdominal segment 9, dorsal tubercles, abdominal chaetotaxy).

Culicoides (Amossovia) oklahomensis: Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 27 (in Neotropical catalog).

Culicoides arboricola Root and Hoffman , misidentified: Wirth and Bottimer 1956: 261 (in part; biology).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Brown; wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3 medially constricted and roughly 8-shaped; pale spots straddling at ~0.25 on M 1 and ~0.4 on M 2; CuA fork and CuA 1 and CuA 2 dark except at tips; pore of sensory pit on palpal segment 3>0.5 the diameter of segment (as in Fig. 247 C. californiensis ); pale band subapical on hind tibiae, absent subapically from fore and mid tibiae; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; aedeagus Y-shaped, median process narrow, pointed, with lateral pair of subapical filaments; parameres separate, apices simple, thick bladelike, pointed.

Distribution. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri ( Childers and Wingo 1968), Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama ( Vigil et al. 2014), Baja California, Sonora, Guatemala.

Larval ecology and adult behavior. Wirth and Bottimer (1956, misidentified as C. arboricola ) and Jones (1961b) collected immatures from oak stump holes in Texas, and Lamberson et al. (1992) collected pupae from treeholes in Texas. However, its adult hosts are unknown, though the mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood.

Figures

Figures 100–103. Male genitalia of Culicoides, ventral view. 100) C. californiensis, left edge of paramere (P), right edge of aedeagus (A), lateral aedeagal spines (As). 101) C. cochisensis (Cochise County, AZ [UCRC]). 102) C. oklahomensis, aedeagus filaments circled (LA [FSCA]). 103) C. pampoikilus (Cochise County, AZ [UCRC]).