Descriptive notes and new Asian distribution in the Chaetophthalmus group of the bloodsucking midge genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Abstract

A diagnosis is presented for the chaetophthalmus Group of the genus Culicoides, which includes six described species found in cool-adapted habitats at higher latitudes and altitudes in western North America and northern and eastern Asia. Two species previously known only from females from Tibet, C. majorinus Chu and spinulosus Chu, are redescribed and figured including the hitherto unknown males, and recorded from Darjeeling, India; majorinus is also recorded from Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah.