Ceratoculicoides blantoni Wirth and Ratanaworabhan

William L. Grogan, Jr., Hribar, Lawrence J., Murphree, C. Steven & Cilek, James E., 2010, New records of biting and predaceous midges from Florida, including species new to the fauna of the United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (147), pp. 1-59 : 34-35

Ceratoculicoides blantoni Wirth and Ratanaworabhan

Ceratoculicoides blantoni Wirth and Ratanaworabhan, 1971: 174 (Maryland) ; Borkent and Grogan 2009: 19 (in Nearctic catalog; distribution).

Discussion. Currently, only three species of Ceratoculicoides Wirth and Ratanaworabhan are known from the United States and Canada ( Borkent and Grogan 2009). The type-species, C. longipennis (Wirth) , ranges from British Columbia and Quebec, south to California, Utah and Florida, whereas C. virginianus (Wirth) occurs from Ontario south to Texas and Florida ( Borkent and Grogan 2009). The third Nearctic species, C. blantoni Wirth and Ratanaworabhan , is known only from Maryland, Virginia and Ontario ( Borkent and Grogan 2009).

Wilkening et al. (1985) recorded two species from northern Florida: C. longipennis , from Liberty Co.; and, C. virginianus from Alachua, Liberty, Marion and Putnam counties. We discovered a female of C. blantoni , in the FSCA that agrees with the original description and illustrations and is similar in size with a female from Maryland (WLGC). This specimen is the first record of this rarely collected species from Florida and it suggests that it may be more widely distributed in the eastern United States than current records indicate.

New records. Levy Co., Yankeetown, 2-I-1993, Alan Wilkening, light trap with CO 2, 1 female (FSCA). New Florida state record.