oa Annals of the Natal Museum - The genera an subgenera (excluding Culicoides) of the Afrotropical Biting Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Abstract

This publication is intended as a guide for the identification of the genera and subgenera of biting and predaceous midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of the Afrotropical Region. The large and import­ant bloodsucking genus Culicoides Latreille is excluded because the Afrotropical species are currently being revised by Rudy Meiswinkel of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Laboratory. The taxo­nomic keys are designed primarily for females, as this is the sex most commonly encountered, and a satisfactory male key has never been devised. Illustrations have been taken from published literature to illustrate key characters. Others have been provided to aid in the recognition of males by genitalia drawings, and when possible, for the immature stages, which are very poorly known except in the genus Forcipomyia. A brief diagnosis is presented for the adults and immature stages of each genus (and subgenus) and references are given for available information on biology. Lists are given of in­cluded species, or, for the larger genera, of the species descriptionbed since publication of the Catalogue of Afrotropical Diptera in 1980. The Afrotropical ceratopogonid fauna comprises a total of 703 species in 50 genera and 19 sub­genera. Of these, 15 genera of the tribe Ceratopogonini and one subgenus of Forcipomyia Meigen are endemic to the Afrotropical Region. The tribe Ceratopogonini, which has evolved to a remarkable degree in southern Africa, also exhibits strong Gondwanaland relationships, with affinities with the faunas of southern South America and the Australasian Region. Other tribes and subfamilies show a rather generalised pattern of relationships.