Ceratoculicoideslongipennis ( Wirth, 1952 )

Fasbender, Andrew, 2023, Revision of the New World Ceratoculicoides Wirth & Ratanaworabhan (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae, Ceratopogonini), European Journal of Taxonomy 875, pp. 159-202 : 184-185

Ceratoculicoideslongipennis ( Wirth, 1952)

Helealongipennis Wirth, 1952: 201 (original description).

Ceratopogon (Nilohelea) longipennis – Wirth 1965: 133 (combination, in catalog).

Ceratoculicoides longipennis – Wirth & Ratanaworabhan 1971: 172 (combination, redescription of female). — Knoz 1987: 391 (key). — Wirth & Grogan 1988: 116 (incorrect application of name to fig. 16). — Borkent & Wirth 1997: 95 (in catalog). — Huerta & Borkent 2005: 114 (catalog). — Borkent & Grogan 2009 (in catalog). — Borkent & Dominiak 2020: 157 (in catalog).

Diagnosis

Male

Unknown.

Female

Femora and tibiae brown, wing length 1.6 mm.

Material examined

Holotype

USA • ♀; California, Tulare Co., Sequoia National Park, Stony Brook ; 13 Jul. 1947; W.W. Wirth leg.; USNM.

Paratype

USA • 1 ♀; California, Tulare Co., Lemon Cove, Kaweah River ; 4 Jul. 1947; W.W. Wirth leg.; USNM; (not conspecific with holotype, see taxonomic notes).

Distribution

California ( USA).

Remarks

There has been considerable confusion with the identity of this species, as the holotype is a female described in Wirth’s (1952) monograph of the California Ceratopogonidae . Wirth & Ratanaworabhan (1971) asserted that this species was conspecific with a morphospecies from eastern North America based primarily on the size of their spermathecae. Based on their material examined list, Wirth & Ratanaworabhan did not have access to any male specimens from California or nearby states. The broader range of material I have been able to examine demonstrates that the eastern morphospecies is not C. longipennis (described above as C. confusus ). My comparison of the paratype and holotype of C. longipennis also found they are not conspecific, with the paratype having a wing length of 1 mm, while the holotype wing length is 1.6 mm. While Wirth & Ratanaworabhan described large (75–82 μm) spermathecae for this species, they never dissected or slide mounted the holotype. It appears from their material examined and my work in the USNM collection that they measured slide mounted females from Oregon and Washington belonging to C. pacificus as part of their description. I have not dissected the C. longipennis holotype to ascertain the size of its spermathecae, as I did not realize the depth of confusion surrounding the identity of this species when I had access to it. Even dissecting the holotype would offer few clues to the identification of this species based on the information currently available, as there are only a handful of characters which offer any diagnostic utility, and many female specimens are currently unplaceable to species (see Discussion).

Females of C. pacificus match the C. longipennis holotype in wing length, but they are known only from temperate rainforests in British Colombia, Oregon, and Washington. The nearest locality of this species is in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, over 900 km from the type locality in the Sierra Nevada Range. In the USNM collection, I found a specimen of a male morphospecies from Death Valley National Park, California, which fits the large size (~ 1.25 mm wing length) expected for the male of C. longipennis . As size and loose geographic proximity are extremely weak evidence upon which to base an association, I have treated this male species as Ceratoculicoides sp. M1 above. Since the holotype remains entire and pinned, it may be possible to sequence its molecular barcode to associate it with future specimens. However, if additional material and further study deprecates the diagnosability of the holotype, it may be necessary to petition the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature to set aside the holotype and designate a male neotype for C. longipennis (under article 75.5, ICZN 1999).