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 Leptoconops ( Holoconops ) whitseli Clastrier and Wirth Leptoconops ( Holoconops ) whitseli Clastrier and Wirth, 1978: 20 (key; female, male, pupa; fig. female antenna, palpus, spermathecae, male fore tarsomere 1, genitalia, palpus, pupal respiratory horn, abdominal segments; California ). Leptoconops kerteszi , misidentified: Whitsel and Schoeppner 1965 (attractant study). Distribution. Coastal California beaches (Monterey and Santa Barbara counties). Larval ecology. Immatures have been reared from ocean beach sand ( Clastrier and Wirth 1978 ). Adult behavior. Males have been collected from Umbelliferae flowers ( Clastrier and Wirth 1978 ). Little else is known about the biology of this species other than that the mandibular and lacinial teeth on the female and attraction to CO 2 indicate it feeds on vertebrate blood. Remarks. No L . whitseli were examined.