Culicoides stonei James

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 : 114-115

Culicoides stonei James

( Fig. 3, 7 , 45 )

Culicoides stonei James, 1943: 149 (female, male; fig. male genitalia, seasonal abundance; Colorado). Foote and Pratt 1954: 33 (key; diagnosis; fig. female wing, mesonotum, male genitalia).

Culicoides (Oecacta) stonei: Khalaf 1954: 38 (assignment to subgenus Oecacta ). Fox 1955: 256 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Jones and Wirth 1958: 91 (synonym: Culicoides weesei Khalaf ). Jones 1961a: 741 (in part; key; pupa; fig. respiratory trumpet, operculum; Texas; Utah variant, misidentified). Atchley 1967: 995 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres). Wirth and Blanton 1971: 461 (key; Stonei group diagnosis; female, male; fig. female eye separation, antenna, palpus, spermathecae, wing, legs, male genitalia, parameres). Jones and Wirth 1978: 57 (key). Wirth et al. 1985: 36 (numerical characters; fig. female wing).

Culicoides weesei Khalaf, 1952b: 65 (male; fig. genitalia; Oklahoma). Khalaf 1952a: 351 (female; fig. female antenna, palpus, seasonal incidence). Fox 1955: 260 (key and diagnoses of subgenera; species key; taxonomy). Wirth and Bottimer 1956: 264 (Texas ecology). Khalaf 1957: 205 (diagnosis; seasonal incidence).

Diagnosis. ( Tables 14, 15, 17) Brown; wing without pattern of pale spots; legs yellowish; two sclerotized ovoid spermathecae and fingerlike vestigial third; posterior portion of female sternite 8 cleft, with blunt submedian posterior projections; ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 spiculate; aedeagus Y-shaped, median process stout, short, blunt, half as long as basal arms; parameres separate, simple, apex curved hooklike (as in Fig. 41 C . mortivallis).

Distribution. Alberta ( Lysyk and Galloway 2014), South Dakota, south through Utah (Grand, Tooele counties), Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas ( Swanson et al. 2018), Oklahoma, to New Mexico, Texas.

Larval ecology and adult behavior. In Texas, immatures have been collected from salt-water and alkalinewater soil and grassy saline pools ( Jones 1961b), and adult females have been collected from white-tailed and unidentified deer ( Wirth and Blanton 1971).

Remarks. Jones’s description of the Grand County, Utah, pupa variant (1961a: 741), Grand County larval habitat record ( Jones 1961b), and Mesa County, Colorado, sheep host record ( Jones 1961c) for C. stonei are likely for C. mortivallis . See also Stonei group discussion.

Figures

Figures 3–8. Female wings with cells (lower case) and veins (upper case) labeled. 3) Culicoides stonei. 4) C. atchleyi (Bonneville County, ID). 5) Leptoconops torrens. Female abdomen, ventral view. 6) L. torrens. 7) C. stonei. 8) L. californiensis, dorsal habitus (in alcohol, Yuma County, AZ [Carl Olson, with permission]).

Figures 41–45. Male genitalia of Culicoides, ventral view, gonocoxite (Gc), gonostylus (Gs), paramere (P), aedeagus (A), apicolateral processes of tergite 9 (T9alp), sternite 9 (S9). 41) C. mortivallis. 42) C. werneri (paratype, Pima County, AZ [FSCA]). 43) C. bottimeri. Spermathecae, rudimentary third spermatheca (rsp), sternite 8 (S8), sternite 9 (S9). 44) C. bottimeri. 45) C. stonei.