Simulium (Nevermannia) aureohirtum Brunetti, 1911

Takaoka, Hiroyuki, Sofian-Azirun, Mohd, Ya’Cob, Zubaidah, Chen, Chee Dhang, Lau, Koon Weng, Low, Van Lun, Pham, Xuan Da & Adler, Peter H., 2017, The black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) of Vietnam, Zootaxa 4261 (1), pp. 1-165 : 68

Simulium (Nevermannia) aureohirtum Brunetti, 1911

Simulium aureohirtum Brunetti, 1911: 283 –288 (Male).

Simulium (Nevermannia) aureohirtum: Ogata, 1956: 61 –62; Ogata, 1966: 129; Takaoka & Roberts, 1988: 194 –195; Takaoka, 2003: 37–45 (Female, male, pupa and larva).

Simulium (Eusimulium) aureohirtum: Puri, 1933c: 1 –7 (Female, male, pupa and larva); Takaoka, 1979: 382–384 (Female, male, pupa and larva).

Specimens examined. Two males (reared from pupae), one pupal exuviae and one mature larva, collected from a stream (width 30 cm, depth 5 cm, bottom sandy, water temperature 18.0˚C, exposed to the sun, elevation 80 m, 19˚20’12.147”N/105˚09’15.908”E) slow flowing near a forest, Chau Dinh , Quy Chau, Nghe An Province, northern Vietnam, 11-XII-2015, by H. Takaoka, M. Sofian-Azirun, C.D. Chen & K.W. Lau.

Distribution. India, Bhutan, China, Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam (Lam Dong, Nghe An and Vinh Phuc).

Remarks. This species is characterized by the unique female and male genitalia, pupal gill with six filaments and larval head capsule with bold head spots (Takaoka 2003). This is the only autogenous species in the Oriental Region, of which the female can develop the first batch of eggs without blood-meals ( Takaoka and Noda 1979). The pupae and larvae of this species appear to be highly adapted to relatively high water temperatures, slow flow and even somewhat muddy or contaminated waters, where most other simuliid species do not occur (Takaoka 2003). As noted previously ( Takaoka et al. 2014a), these capabilities, together with other factors, may explain why this species is widely distributed in the Oriental Region and extends into the Palearctic and Australasian Regions. Alternatively, given its wide grographical range, it might be a complex of species.