Browsing by Author "Craig, Douglas A. (Douglas Abercrombie)"
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Item Austroconops Wirth and Lee, a Lower Cretaceous genus of biting midges yet living in Western Australia : a new species, first description of the immatures and discussion of their biology and phylogeny (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae). American Museum novitates ; no. 3449(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2004) Borkent, Art.; Craig, Douglas A. (Douglas Abercrombie)The eggs and all four larval instars of Austroconops mcmillani Wirth and Lee and A. annettae Borkent, new species, are described. The pupa of A. mcmillani is also described. Life cycles and details of behavior of each life stage are reported, including feeding by the aquatic larvae on microscopic organisms in very wet soil/detritus, larval locomotion, female adult biting habits on humans and kangaroos, and male adult swarming. Austroconops annettae Borkent, new species, is attributed to the first author. Cladistic analysis shows that the two extant Austroconops Wirth and Lee species are sister species. Increasingly older fossil species of Austroconops represent increasingly earlier lineages. Among extant lineages, Austroconops is the sister group of Leptoconops Skuse, and together they form the sister group of all other Ceratopogonidae. Dasyhelea Kieffer is the sister group of Forcipomyia Meigen + Atrichopogon Kieffer, and together they form the sister group of the Ceratopogoninae. Forcipomyia has no synapomorphies and may be paraphyletic in relation to Atrichopogon. Austroconops is morphologically conservative (possesses many plesiomorphic features) in each life stage and this allows for interpretation of a number of features within Ceratopogonidae and other Culicomorpha. A new interpretation of Cretaceous fossil lineages shows that Austroconops, Leptoconops, Minyohelea Borkent, Jordanoconops Szadziewksi, Archiaustroconops Szadziewksi, and Fossileptoconops Szadziewksi form a monophyletic group. Within this assemblage Leptoconops and Minyohelea are sister groups and Austroconops and Jordanoconops are monophyletic (Austroconops is possibly paraphyletic in relation to Jordanoconops). All are considered to be members of Leptoconopinae Noè and the subfamily Austroconopinae Borkent, Wirth and Dyce is a new synonym of Leptoconopinae. Extant and fossil distributional records suggest that Austroconops was displaced from its previously broad distribution by the emergence of Culicoides Latreille. Larval feeding on microorganisms is plesiotypic within the Ceratopogonidae and Chironomoidea, and living in small aquatic habitats is plesiotypic within each family of the Culicomorpha. Outgroup comparisons further suggest that diurnal feeding by adult females is plesiotypic within the Ceratopogonidae and Chironomoidea.Item A revision of the neotropical genus Baeodasymyia Clastrier and Raccurt (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae), with a discussion of phylogenetic relationships. American Museum novitates ; no. 3274(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 1999) Borkent, Art.; Craig, Douglas A. (Douglas Abercrombie)The genus Baeodasymyia Clastrier and Raccurt, previously known only as adults from one extant and one fossil species, now includes four more extant species. The new species are described and named B. michaeli Borkent, n. sp., B. christopheri Borkent, n. sp., B. lydiae Borkent, n. sp., and B. gustavoi Borkent, n. sp. The larvae and pupae of B. michaeli and B. christopheri are also described and bionomic information provided for these and other species. Costa Rican species (n = 3) are all restricted to springs. Males and females of Baeodasymyia christopheri are strikingly sexually dimorphic in their thoracic pigmentation. A partially resolved cladogram suggests that the Dominican amber fossil species B. dominicana Szadziewski and Grogan is the sister group to all extant species, and that B. lydiae is the sister group to all remaining extant species (which are not further resolved). The presence of simple head capsule setae in larvae of Baeodasymyia indicates that this genus and its sister group Baeohelea Wirth and Blanton may be an early lineage within the Ceratopogonini. The Cretaceous genus Brachycretacea Szadziewski may be the sister group of Baeohelea + Baeodasymyia.