Culicoides ostotlae Huerta, Spinelli & Jr, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Huerta, Herón
name: Spinelli, Gustavo R.
name: Grogan Jr, William L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Ceratopogonidae
Culicoides
Culicoides ostotlae

description: Culicoides ostotlae sp. nov.
(Figs. 71, 93–98)
Diagnosis. Distinguished by the pale spot over the r-m crossvein extending to anterior radial vein not extended to costal wing margin; two elongate, subequal-size sack-like spermathecae, without necks. Male unknown.
Description female. Head (Fig. 93) dark brown. Eyes bare, narrowly separated by distance shorter than diameter of one ommatidium. Flagellomeres 1–13 uniformly dark brown; flagellomeres 1–8 vasiform, 9–13 subcylindrical; AR 1.35; sensilla coeloconica on flagellomeres 1, 9–13. Palpus dark brown; third segment greatly swollen, with large, deep sensory pit opening with small pore; PR 2.1; P/H ratio 0.73. Mandible with 23 teeth. Thorax dark brown, scutum pattern not in position for description, taller than broad in lateral view (Fig. 94). Legs dark brown (Fig. 95–97), femoral and tibial joints blackish, fore and mid femora narrowly pale at base, tibiae with sub-basal narrow pale rings; hind tibial comb with four spines, the second from spur longest. Wing (Fig. 71), length 1.49 mm; width 0.71 mm; CR 0.55. Second radial cell in a dark spot, slightly shorter than first radial cell; pale spot over crossvein r-m extending to anterior radial vein, not extending to costal wing margin; poststigmatic pale spots in cell r 3 fused in a single, transversal spot; distal pale spot large, transverse, with small, faint distal extension from posterior side; vein M 1 with faint pale spot in medial portion at the level of postsigmatic pale spot; cell m 1 with elongate pale spot near the wing margin; vein M 2 straddled by pale spot near its base; cell m 2 with pale spot near wing margin, a 2 nd lying anterior to cubital fork; cell cua 1 with pale spot at wing margin, extending to vein CuA 1; veins CuA 1 and CuA 2 dark to apex; anal cell with two oblique, well separated distal pale spots and two pale spots at base of cell; cell m 2 with elongate pale spot at base and another lying on base of cubital stem. Macrotrichia dense, long, extending to bases of medial and anal cells. Halter pale. Abdomen (Fig. 98) dark brown. Two sub-elongate, subequal, sack-like spermathecae without necks, each measuring 0.062 by 0.027 mm, 0.042 by 0.027 mm; diminute sclerotized rings present.
Male. Unknown.
Remarks. Because only from female is known it is provisionally included in the Daedalus group, by vein m 2 with straddling pale spot, palpal pit broad, deep, and opening by a small pore and sensilla coeloconica present on flagellomeres 1, 9–13. It is distinguished from all other members of the Daedalus group by the two elongated sack-like spermathecae and a pale spot over the r-m crossvein limited to anterior radial vein, not extended to costal wing margin. Culicoides commatis Wirth & Blanton from Panama, also have the distal pale spot in cell r 3 with a faint distal extension from its posterior side; however, this a smaller species (wing length 1.02 mm), antenna with sensilla coeloconica on flagellomeres 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9–13, macrotrichia are more abundant and two rounded spermathecae with short necks.
Type material. Female HOLOTYPE. MEXICO, Chiapas, Locality Parque Natural “El Aguacero, Gruta El Encanto”, 6-jun-1926, A. Dampf, light trap, Mexican Fauna No. 162.
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Nahualt language “ ostotlae ”, which means “cave or grotto”, in reference to the locality in Chiapas, Mexico.
Distribution. Known only from the type-locality in Chiapas, Mexico.
description: Published as part of Huerta, Herón, Spinelli, Gustavo R. & Grogan Jr, William L., 2025, An atlas of wing photographs and a key to species of the genus Culicoides Latreille from Mexico (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), including new records, new synonymy, two new species and new status of Culicoides neghmei Vargas and C. propinquus Macfie, pp. 1-51 in Zootaxa 5566 (1) on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5566.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14612829