Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett)

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 : 50-51

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga (Coquillett)

Ceratopogon sanguisuga Coquillett, 1901: 604 (key; female; Maryland).

Culicoides sanguisuga (Coquillett) : Kieffer 1906: 55 (combination). Malloch 1915: 301 (misspelled as sanguisugum; key; male, female; fig. female flagellomere, palpus, wing, male flagellomeres, genitalia).

Culicoides (Avaritia) sanguisuga . Jamnback and Wirth 1963: 189 (key; female, male, pupa, larva; biology; fig. female head palpus, mandibular teeth, hind tibial spines, spermathecae, male genitalia, male pupa, female pupa, larva). Jamnback 1965: 91 (key; female; male genitalia; pupa; biology; fig. male genitalia, female wing, antenna, palpus, eye, pupa, larva). Childers and Wingo 1968: 16 (key; biology; fig. female wing, spermathecae). Battle and Turner 1971: 74 (female; male genitalia; larval habitats; feeding habits; seasonal distribution; fig. female eye separation, palpus, wing, spermathecae, male genitalia). Wirth et al. 1985: 14 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Murphree and Mullen 1991: 319 (key; larva; numerical characters; fig. thoracic pigmentation, head, epipharynx, hypostoma, mandible).

Culicoides obsoletus , misidentified in part: Root and Hoffman 1937: 155 (key; female; male genitalia; fig. male genitalia is that of C. sanguisuga ). Foote and Pratt 1954: 29 (key; fig. female palpus, male genitalia represent C. sanguisuga ).

Culicoides (Culicoides) obsoletus , misidentified in part: Khalaf 1954: 39 (assignment to subgenus Culicoides ).

Culicoides (Avaritia) obsoletus , misidentified in part: Fox 1955: 218, 248 (subgenus Avaritia Fox ; key and diagnoses of subgenera; species diagnosis; taxonomy). Murray 1957 (biology).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15) Wing pattern faint on distal third; pale spot over distal half of r 2 (as in Fig. 118 , 177 C. obsoletus ); eyes contiguous, bare; superior transverse suture absent; palpal segment 3 with sensory pit; two ovoid subequal spermathecae, with necks and vestigial spermatheca; posterior margin of male sternite 9 cleft, without broad excavation; posterior margin of male tergite 9 convex, apicolateral processes absent; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple, ~2× longer than dorsal apodeme, slender, ~7× longer than basal width; aedeagus broadly U-shaped, without sclerotized membrane between basal arms or sclerotized anterior-directed point at base of median process (similar to Fig. 65 C . obsoletus, but with shallower arch and longer median process); median process with concave often spinulose tip; aedeagal ratio ~0.6; parameres separate, curved, apical portion simple pointed.

Distribution. Forested areas of Alaska east to Nova Scotia, south to Northern California and east to Georgia. Its period of synonymy with C. obsoletus has caused records prior to 1963 to be confused.

Larval ecology and life cycle. It is likely that some of the biological accounts for Nearctic C. obsoletus prior to 1963 apply to C. sanguisuga . Jamnback and Wirth (1963) report collecting immatures from piled leaves, forest litter, small piles of straw, a pile of spruce needles, twigs, and wood chips—all characterized by being dry on the surface and moist internally. Culicoides sanguisuga is univoltine in New York, with the larvae overwintering; the pupal stage lasts 3–6 d; there is some evidence the first generation is autogenous; females that engorged lay eggs 6–7 d later; and larvae hatch in ~5 d ( Jamnback and Watthews 1963).

Adult behavior. Murray’s (1957) report of C. obsoletus adults as most active on the edge of and in forested areas with peak nighttime activity during 0200–0500 hours, with season peaks mid-June to mid-July and late July to mid-August in Virginia and Hearle’s (1938) report of horse, cow, and human hosts for C. obsoletus are likely for C. sanguisuga ( Jamnback and Wirth 1963) .

Culicoides sanguisuga is a generalist feeder with a preference for larger mammals and birds ( Tanner and Turner 1974). It is a severe biting pest of humans ( Jamnback and Wirth 1963; Jamnback 1965; Battle and Turner 1971). Jamnback and Watthews (1963) described in detail its behavior while feeding on human hosts and found that diurnal biting activity was highest at dawn and dusk, though they did not attempt to determine nocturnal activity, which could have been higher.

Other reported hosts are cow ( Jamnback 1965; Schmidtmann et al. 1981; Zimmerman and Turner 1983), sheep ( Zimmerman and Turner 1983), goat, rabbit ( Humphreys and Turner 1973), cotton-tail rabbit ( Sylvilagus Gray , Leporidae ), guinea pig ( Cavia Pallas , Caviidae ), opossum ( Didelphis Linnaeus , Didelphidae ), rat ( Rattus Fischer de Waldheim , Muridae ), quail ( Colinus Goldfuss , Odontophoridae ), mourning dove ( Zenaida Bonaparte , Columbidae ), mallard ( Anas Linnaeus , Anatidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968), chicken ( Gallus Brisson , Phasianidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968; Humphreys and Turner 1973), turkey ( Meleagris Linnaeus , Phasianidae ) ( Hair and Turner 1968; Humphreys and Turner 1973; Tanner and Turner 1974), grouse, blue jay, white-throated sparrow, horse ( Jamnback 1965), and little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus [Le Conte], Chiroptera ) ( Reeves et al. 2004).

Remarks. No specimens of C. sanguisuga were examined, and its seasonal distribution in Table 5 is entirely from eastern North American records.

Subgenus Beltranmyia Vargas

Figures

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]).

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]).