Título en español.

Abstract

This catalogue dealing with the bloodsucking Ceratopogonidae of the Western Hemisphere includes 198 subspecific and specific names in Culicoides, 12 in Leptoconops and 12 in Lasiohelea, together with most of the literature references to them which had appeared up to June 1954. A subgeneric system in Culicoides based particularly on the male genitalia is proposed and eight subgenera are described or redescribed: Macfiella (new subgenus), Hoffmania, Fox, Avaritia (new subgenus), Culicoides Latreille, Selfia Khalaf, Monoculicoides Khalaf, Oecacta Poey, and Beltranmyia Vargas. The species are placed in the appropriate subgenera, as far as possible, and a key is given to the males and females of the Nearctic forms. The Geographic Index lists the species reported from the geographic units of the Western Hemisphere as well as each of the states of the United States. A brief review of the literature on biology, control, and medical importance is also included.

Phylogenetic analysis indicates thatCulicoides dewulfishould not be considered part of theCulicoides obsoletuscomplex

“…Therefore, in many cases, only males can be differentiated, even by specialists; and such traits are used without any recourse to potential phenotypic plasticity or geographic variation among individuals or populations. Moreover, this morphological variation cannot be used to gauge evolutionary distance and, thus, does not allow relative placement of the individual species in a broader Culicoides phylogeny (Edwards, 1939; Downes & Kettle, 1952; Khalaf, 1954; Fox, 1955). Application of DNA-based phylogenetic analysis has facilitated reliable species identification within the species complexes.…”