A new human-biting black fly species of simulium (simulium) (diptera: Simuliidae) from Thailand

Abstract

© The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Version of Record, first published online April 7, 2017 with fixed content and layout in compliance with Art. 8.1.3.2 ICZN. Simulium (Simulium) umphangense, a new human-biting species of black fly, is described based on females captured while attacking humans in western and central Thailand. The female of this new species is similar to those of S. (S.) indicum Becher, S. (S.) nigrogilvum Summers, and S. (S.) vanellum Huang et al. in the Simulium griseifrons species-group of the subgenus Simulium Latreille in having the frons densely covered with golden-yellow short hairs, a character rarely found in the subgenus Simulium. This new species is readily distinguished from the three related species by having a darkened fore tibia, a bare subcosta (or rarely with a few hairs), and an ovipositor valve not protruded posteriorly. Additional diagnostic characters of this new species are noted. This is the seventh human-biting species of black fly in Thailand.