Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 124 1967 Number 3626 



New Species of Culicoides 



from High Altitudes in the Colombian Andes 



(Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) * 



By Willis W. Wirth and Vernon H. Lee 2 



No previous accounts of Culicoides exist from the Andean highlands 

 of Colombia; furthermore, until the present, only seven species of 

 Culicoides have been known from all of Colombia (Forattini, 1957; 

 Wirth and Blanton, 1959). In this paper, we are describing nine new 

 species from that country, all collected in the high, cool elevations of 

 the Andes Mountains. One of these species occurs in such numbers 

 and attacks human beings so severely that it is a serious pest. Affin- 

 ities of these species are of particular interest and will be noted under 

 the individual species. Generally these species show many more simi- 

 larities to the Culicoides occurring in the North and Central American 

 Temperate Zone than to those known from the tropical lowlands of 

 Colombia. In this connection, it is important to note that the genus 

 is not known to occur in the temperate southern part of South Amer- 

 ica, and thus it must be concluded that the Andean fauna has been 

 derived from the North American continent. 



1 These observations were made during studies on arboviruses in Colombia 

 with support in part from the Universidad del Valle and the Rockefeller 

 Foundation. 



2 Wirth: Entomology Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C; Lee: staff member, Rockefeller 

 Foundation, Ibadan, Nigeria. 



1 



