New records of biting midges of the genus Culicoides Latreille from the southeastern United States (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)
Author
Vigil
Author
Wlodkowski, John C.
Author
Joshua
Author
Vargas
Author
Shaw, David
Author
Christopher
Author
William L. Grogan, Jr.
Author
Corn, Joseph L.
text
Insecta Mundi
2014
2014-10-17
2014
394
1
14
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5179761
1942-1354
5179761
4A262124-FBE8-4091-BDD8-A895A58CDB75
Culicoides kirbyi
Glick and Mullen
Culicoides kirbyi
Glick and Mullen, 1983: 380
(
Maryland
;
Alabama
);
Wirth et al. 1985: 24
(in Nearctic Wing Atlas; distribution);
Borkent and Grogan 2009: 17
(in Nearctic catalog; distribution).
Discussion.
Culicoides kirbyi
is a relatively recently described and poorly known species, which seems to have a very specific emergence and peak population period. It was described by
Glick and Mullen (1983)
from specimens collected at two sites, in Lee Co.
Alabama
and Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, Prince Georges Co.,
Maryland
(
type
locality). In
Alabama
, it has only been captured in mid-spring, during the last week of April and first week of May, and from mid- to late May in
Maryland
. This very narrow emergence period may explain why
C. kirbyi
is so rarely captured.
Glick and Mullen (1983)
noted that although its feeding habits were unknown, the fact that it possessed antennal sensilla coeloconica on eight flagellomeres suggested that it is ornithophilic. Glick and Mullen also indicated that
C. kirbyi
was most similar to the slightly darker
C
.
testudinalis
Wirth and Hubert
, which has a similar wing with faint pale spots, but, is larger (female wing length 0.89–1.26 mm vs. 0.83–0.94 mm in
C. kirbyi
), with a longer proboscis (proboscis/head ratio 0.79 vs. 0.60–0.65 in
C. kirbyi
), and a more slender palpal segment 3 (palpal ratio 2.00–2.60 vs. 1.83–1.95 in
C. kirbyi
). We provide the first record of
C. kirbyi
from
Mississippi
, a female collected during the last week of April in the south-central region of that state.
New State Record.
MISSISSIPPI
, Marion Co., Columbia, Marion County Wildlife Management Area,
27 April 2009
,
1 female
.