Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens, 1006

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 : 47

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens

( Fig. 63 , 117 , 175)

Culicoides (Avaritia) boydi Wirth and Mullens, 1992: 1006 (female, male; fig. female antenna, palpus, eye separation, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; California). Breidenbaugh and Mullens 1999a: 851 (egg, larva, pupa; fig. egg, larval head, mouthparts, thorax, caudal segment, pupal respiratory trumpet, operculum, caudal segment, chaetotaxy). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 28 (in Neotropical catalog).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern faint on distal third; pale spot over distal half of r 2; eyes contiguous, with sparse interommatidial pubescence on dorsal portions; superior transverse suture absent; palpal segment 3 with sensory pit; two ovoid subequal spermathecae, with necks and vestigial spermatheca ( Wirth and Mullens [1992] describe C. boydi with “vestigial third spermatheca absent”; however, five of five specimens provided to me by Bradley Mullens had a fingerlike vestigial third spermatheca); posterior margin of male sternite 9 with broad caudomedian excavation; posterior margin of male tergite 9 concave with square lateral corners; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, ~2× longer than dorsal apodeme, slender, 5–7× longer than basal width (original description says ventral apodeme “short and pointed” and illustrates it as about as long as basal width; however, two of two specimens from original series show otherwise); aedeagus with sclerotized membrane between arms, aedeagal ratio ~0.3, basal arms forming pointed lateral shoulders and a median sclerotized anterior-directed point at base of triangular median process; parameres separate, apices simple curved pointed.

Distribution. California, Baja California.

Adult behavior. Culicoides boydi has been collected biting desert bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis nelsoni ) and human ears ( Wirth and Mullens 1992), and Mullens and Dada (1992b) found activity peaks April–June and October.

Life cycle. Parity rates of females collected in CO 2 -baited traps averaged 13% ( Wirth and Mullens 1992); and laboratory studies by Breidenbaugh and Mullens (1999a) found that a single wild-caught female laid 95 eggs, which hatched in 5 d at 21–25 °C. The larvae fed on the bacterial-feeding nematode Pelodera Schneider (Rhabditidae) , and started pupating 24 d after hatch.

Symbionts. Mullens et al. (1997b) experimented with the potential biocontrol parasitic nematode, Heleidomermis magnapapula Poinar and Mullens (Stichosomida: Mermithidae ) in the laboratory and found it readily entered, infected, developed, and emerged from and killed C. boydi larvae.

Remarks. Willis Wirth referred to this species as new species number 63 (Bradley Mullens, personal communication).

Figures

Figures 63–65. Male genitalia of Culicoides subgenus Avaritia, ventral view. Upper images focused on aedeagus (A). Lower insets focused on caudal margin of tergite 9. Ventral apodeme of gonocoxite labeled (Gcva). Anteriordirected median process of aedeagus circled. 63) C. boydi (Riverside County, CA [BM]). 64) C. chiopterus (MD [FSCA]). 65) C. obsoletus (MD [FSCA]).

Figures 117–125. Male wings of Culicoides subgenera Avaritia and Silvicola. 117) C. boydi (in grayscale) (Riverside County, CA [BM]). 118) C. obsoletus (MD [FSCA]). 119) C. cockerellii (Bonneville County, ID). 120) C. freeborni (San Diego County, CA [BM]). 121) C. lahontan. 122) C. neofagineus (in grayscale) (paratype, Mendocino County, CA [FSCA]). 123) C. neomontanus. 124) C. saltonensis (Imperial County, CA [FSCA]). 125) C. sierrensis (paratype, Modoc County, CA [FSCA]).