no. 3626 CULICOIDES — WIRTH AND LEE 9 



sparse along wing margins in distal portions of cells R5, Ml, and M2; 

 costa extending to 0.62 (0.59-0.70, n=14) of distance to wing tip, 

 radial cells of subequal lengths, with distinct lumens, the second 

 much broader. Halter pale. 



Abdomen: Dark brown. Spermathecae (fig. 2d) 2 plus rudimentary 

 spermatheca and ring; slightly unequal, measuring 0.067 x 0.048 mm, 

 and 0.062 x 0.046 mm, deeply sclerotized, ovoid, tapering to short 

 sclerotized necks. 



Male.— As in the female with the usual sexual differences; wing 

 length 1.37 mm; costal ratio 0.62; palpal ratio 2.9. Genitalia as figured 

 (fig. 2e-f) : Ninth sternum with broad, shallow, caudomedian ex- 

 cavation, the ventral membrane bare; ninth tergum elongate, tapered 

 distally, with short, pointed, apicolateral processes. Aedeagus with 

 very low basal arch, sides nearly straight and tapering to elongate, 

 slender distal stem; internal, subapical, sclerotized point present. 

 Parameres each (fig. 2e) with short, stout anterolateral process, mid- 

 portion slender and nearly straight, tapering to slender, filamentous 

 tip. 



Types. — Holotype female: Lago Buey, 3250 m, Paramo de Purace, 

 Cauca, Colombia, Feb. 18, 1965, V. H. Lee, biting man, USNM, 

 type no. 69398. Allotype male: 28.4 km east of Purace, 3100 m, 

 Feb. 18, 1965, V. H. Lee, at light. Para types, 87 females on slides, 500 

 females in alcohol: 8 females, same data as holotype; 11 females on 

 slides, 250 in alcohol, same data as allotype; 250 females in alcohol, 

 same data as allotype but biting man, Feb. 17, 1965; 68 females, 

 18 km east of Purace, 3320 m, Oct. 29, 1964, V. H. Lee, at light. 



Remarks. — This species resembles C. orjuelai, new species, in 

 wing markings, but the pale spot over r-m crossvein is variable in 

 size and the poststigmatic pale spot is broader and involves less of 

 the second radial cell, the spermathecae are larger and more unequal, 

 and the antennae differ, having the sensorial pattern in, xm-xv and 

 the distal constriction of xi. This is by far the commonest of the 

 Paramo species, and the numbers taken in the biting collections attest 

 to its annoyance to human beings. 



Subgenus Culicoides Latreille 



Species of the subgenus Culicoides are most numerous in the North 

 Temperate Zone, especially in the colder north latitudes under sub- 

 arctic conditions. They do occur down the western Cordilleras of 

 North America through Central America at higher elevations, i.e., 

 C. luteovenus Root and Hoffman and C. elutus Macfie. In Central 

 America a characteristic group has evolved, the Covagarciai Group. 



Most species of the subgenus Culicoides are large blackish species 

 with prominent wing pattern that includes a pale spot at the tip of the 



269-427—67 2 



