580 THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



Sub-family. Ceratopogoninae. 



This sub-family of midges consists of very small species varying from i to 

 2 mm. in length ; the wings have darkened areas, and the second longitudinal vein 

 is wanting, and the first and third veins are stouter than the others and placed close 

 to the anterior margin, the fourth and fifth are forked ; the antennas in both male 

 and female are composed of fourteen segments, six or eight in the males bearing 

 long hairs. 



The chief blood-sucking species belong to the genera Culicoides, Latreille, 

 and Johannseniella, Williston. The latter genus differs from the former in the 

 absence of an empodium or median appendage on the last segment of the tarsi. 

 The genus Ceratopogon, as restricted by Kieffer, is not supposed to take vertebrate 

 blood, but Austen has recently noticed that the type specimen of C. castaneus, 

 Walker, and a new species described by him, apparently have their bodies distended 

 with blood. The wings in the Ceratopogonino' are carried flat when at rest. 



FIG. 403. A Ceratopogon, or midge. Greatly enlarged. 



In spite of their small size the females are the most bloodthirsty and annoying of 

 all insects. The Culicoides, which are often called " sand-flies," bite during the day 

 and rarely at night. Usually they are most troublesome between 3 and 6 p.m. 

 They frequently attack in swarms, especially in the open, and owing to their minute 

 size can get through fine mosquito netting. Some of them produce a distinct " buzz J; 

 when on the wing. These insects are found in all parts of the world. No species 

 has been definitely connected with any disease, but Culicoides has been suspected of 

 carrying the germs of Delhi boil. The larvae of Culicoides are elongate in form and 

 have smooth bodies composed of thirteen segments including the head, which is 

 horny ; there is no proleg on the first segment as seen in Chironomus, and on the 

 anal segment are retractile gills. They are very active and live in the sap of various 

 trees which saturates diseased bark. 



The pupae are smooth, but the abdominal segments bear a transverse row of 

 small spines. Austen describes a number of Culicoides and one Johannseniella and 

 three Ceratopogons from Africa, 1 and Lutz 2 a number of this sub-family from Brazil, 



1 Bull, Ent. Res., 1912, iii, pp. 99-108. 



Mem. Inst. Ostualdo Cruz, 1913, v , fasc. I, pp. 45-72, pis. 6-8: and 1914, vi, fasc. 2, 

 pp. 81-99. 



