Culicoides leoni Barbosa, 1952

Huerta, Rodríguez, Ana M., William L. Grogan, Jr. & Ibáñez-Bernal, Sergio, 2012, New records of biting midges of the genus Culicoides Latreille from Mexico (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (211), pp. 1-20 : 5

Culicoides leoni Barbosa

Culicoides leoni Barbosa, 1952: 17 ( Ecuador) .

Culicoides (Oecacta) leoni: Wirth 1974: 33 (in New World catalog south of the USA; distribution).

Discussion. The leoni species group is composed of 7 species, 6 of which inhabit the Neotropical region ( Borkent and Spinelli 2007). The 7 th species, C. reevesi Wirth , is known in the Nearctic region from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah ( Grogan et al. 2004; Borkent and Grogan 2009). The only species previously known from this group in Mexico is C. gabaldoni Ortiz , which is widely distributed in the Neotropical region ( Borkent and Spinelli 2007).

Culicoides leoni differs from other species in the leoni group by the following combination of characters: sensilla coeloconica on flagellomeres 1, 5-8; female wing length 0.63 mm; wing pattern with the caudal extension of the post-stigmatic pale spot not oblique in cell r 3 and usually connected to vein M 1; smaller pale spot on r-m crossvein; one pale spot in cell M 1 near base; and distal pale spot in anal cell abutting wing margin.

This species was previously known from Ecuador ( Borkent and Spinelli 2007), and Colombia ( Spinelli et al. 2009). We provide the first records of C. leoni from Mexico.

New records. Veracruz, Huatusco, Rancho Tenejapa, 7 May 1993, H. Huerta, colecta con aspirador, 2 females. New country record.

Fluvialis Species Group