Bezzia (Bezzia) punctipennis (Williston)

(Fig. 1D)

Ceratopogon punctipennis Williston, 1896: 278 (female; St. Vincent).

Bezzia punctipennis (Williston): Kieffer 1906: 58 (combination); Malloch 1914b: 282 (key); Malloch 1915: 346 (key); Kieffer 1917: 330 (key); Wirth 1974: 53 (Neotropical catalog; distribution); Spinelli & Wirth 1989b: 118 (female; male; redescription; distribution); Borkent & Wirth 1997: 128 (world catalog); Borkent & Spinelli 2000: 61 (new world catalog south of the USA; distribution); Huerta 2002: 66 (Yucatan record, Mexico; distribution; figures); Borkent & Spinelli 2007: 94 (Neotropical catalog; distribution); Borkent & Grogan 2009: 29 (new world catalog north of Mexico; distribution); Borkent & Dominiak 2020: 203 (world catalog); Santarém & Felippe˗Bauer 2021: 34 (Brazilian distribution); Spinelli et al. 2023: 63 (catalog of biting midges from Argentina).

Bezzia lenkoi: Spinelli, 1983: 23 (Argentina record, misidentification).

Diagnosis. The only species in the punctipennis group with the following combination of characters: wing with three dark spots located on the middle of M 1, on the r-m crossvein and below the apex of the radial cell (Fig. 1D); legs dark brown with faint subapical pale band on fore and mid femora, and sub-basal pale band on fore tibia; femora with 2–3 ventral spines; male sternite 9 with two pointed lobes; gonostylus straight, as long as gonocoxite.

Material examined. MEXICO, Yucatan, Reserva Ría Lagartos, Km 10 carretera Ria Lagartos-Las Coloradas, petén, light trap, 21-mar-1996, Ibáñez-Bernal, S., 1 male CAIM ; same data except, CDC trap, 1-sep-1995, Navarro-Correa, C., Paz-Rodríguez, R, Huerta, H., 1 male. Reserva Ría Celestún, Rancho Loma Bonita, km 15 carretera Celestún-Kinchil, peten, Malaise trap, 16-jul-1996, 1 female CAIM .

New Veracruz record: Vega Alatorre, Emiliano Carranza, LC 20 bis., Acahual, 26-aug-2008, CDC trap, 1 female CAIM .

Distribution. USA (California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida), Mexico (Veracruz, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Yucatan), El Salvador, Honduras, Brazil (Amazonas), Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominica, St. Vincent, Argentina (Buenos Aires province).

Remarks. This species is widely distributed in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, from California east to Florida, and Mexico south to Argentina. This species differs from others species in the punctipennis group by its wing with three dark spots, one spot on vein M 1 and male sternite 9 with two pointed lobes.