Culicoides castillae Fox, 1946

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 : 5-6

Culicoides castillae Fox

Culicoides castillae Fox, 1946: 251 ( Honduras) .

Culicoides (Oecacta) castillae: Wirth 1974: 29 (in New World catalog south of the USA; distribution). Culicoides flochabonnenci Ortiz and Mirsa, 1952: 267 . ( Venezuela).

Culicoides gibsoni Wirth, 1952b: 246 . ( Guatemala).

Discussion. The known distribution of this species was Guatemala to Ecuador, Venezuela and Trinidad ( Borkent and Spinelli 2007), and, Spinelli et al. (2009) recorded it from Colombia. Two species of the fluvialis species group occur in Mexico, C. castillae and C. leopoldoi Ortiz , both of which have similar wing patterns. However, in C. castillae , the three pale spots in cell r 3 are separated and arranged in a triangle-like pattern. We provide the first record of C. castillae from Mexico.

New records. Michoacán, Punta Garnica, 20 August 1964, 9272 ft., 1 male (FSCA). New country record.

Culicoides leopoldoi Ortiz

Culicoides leopoldoi Ortiz, 1951: 579 ( Venezuela) .

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

Discussion. This species was previously known in the Neotropical region from Guatemala and Belize, south to Trinidad, Bolivia and northeastern Argentina ( Borkent and Spinelli 2007). Vargas (1954) provided the first reference of C. leopoldoi in Mexico based on specimens identified by Wirth from Chiapas. Of the then 10 known species in the fluvialis species group, Wirth and Blanton (1959) only listed C. leopoldoi from Mexico. However, in his catalog of the Americas south of the United States, Wirth (1974) did not include Mexico under his distribution section for C. leopoldoi . Consequently, all subsequent New World distributional references to C. leopoldoi did not include Mexico. We provide the first definitive records of this species from Mexico.

New records. Oaxaca, San Juan Guichicovi, El Zarzal, Malaise trap, 24-25 July 2009, S. B. Salceda, A. J. Rodríguez & A. J. Ordoñez, 2 males. New country record.

New distributional records of species previously recorded from Mexico