Culicoides Latreille and Leptoconops Skuse biting midges of the southwestern United States with emphasis on the Canyonlands of southeastern Utah (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) Author Phillips, Robert A. 2962 Desert Road Moab, UT 84532 USA text Insecta Mundi 2022 2022-01-28 2022 907 1 214 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.6391684 1942-1354 6391684 CBD29188-143B-44DF-BE21-1654D50D8621 Culicoides ( Drymodesmyia ) insolatus Wirth and Hubert (Fig. 110, 166, 200) Culicoides ( Oecacta ) insolatus Wirth and Hubert, 1960: 654 (key; numerical characters; female; male genitalia; fig. female wing, palpus, spermathecae, male genitalia, parameres; Baja California ). Culicoides ( Drymodesmyia ) insolatus : Wirth et al. 1985: 16 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Wirth et al. 1988: 26 (numerical characters; fig. female wing). Borkent and Spinelli 2000: 30 (in Neotropical catalog). Diagnosis. ( Tables 14 , 15 ) Dark brown; wing pattern distinct; r 2 dark; distal pale spot in r 3 roundly squarish to slightly bilobed with small anterior cap, oriented perpendicular to M 1 ; pale spots at ~0.3 on M 1 and ~0.5 on M 2 , sometimes the spot at ~0.3 only touching anterior of, not straddling, vein; one distinct pale spot in distal half of anal cell; tips of M 1 , M 2 , CuA 1 dark; most of CuA 1 , all of CuA 2 within dark areas; pore of sensory pit on palpal segment 3 <0.3 the diameter of segment, widening internally (as in Fig. 248 C . sitiens ); tibiae without subapical pale band; spermathecae unequal by ~1.2×, ~1.1× longer than wide; ventro-posterior membrane of male sternite 9 spiculate; ventral apodeme of gonocoxite simple; aedeagus V-shaped, papilliform tip <0.1 width of arm spread, aedeagal ratio ~0.4; parameres separate, apices simple pointed bent hooklike. Distribution. California , Baja California , Sonora . The single female I collected with UVLT on 4 April 2019 at 34.81440°N 115.61413°W and 1219 m elevation in the Granite Mountains of San Bernardino County, California , may be near the northern limit for this hot-desert species. Larval ecology and adult behavior. Culicoides insolatus has been reared from rot holes in Pachycereus schottii ( Ryckman 1960 ) . The specimen I collected was from an area where the cacti flora was predominately several Opuntia species , with a few Ferocactus , Echinocereus Engelmann , and Mammillaria Haworth (Cactaceae) . However, its adult hosts are unknown, though the mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood.