Simulium? - Simulium - BugGuide.Net

Moved

Moved from Simulium.

… John F. Carr, 16 October, 2013 - 7:21pm

Simulium cf. jenningsi

If I worked the key correctly, there are four species from north central Massachusetts that look like this. The most common is Simulium jenningsi. They further divide into two groups based on genital characters that may require slide mounting. Some species can not be separated on the basis of adult females; you may require a male, larva, pupa, or chromosomes.

… John F. Carr, 16 October, 2013 - 7:18pm

Moved

Moved from Black Flies.

… Charley Eiseman, 9 October, 2013 - 3:43pm

Female Simulium

Female Simulium. Species ID is really hard. Was it attracted to humans or other mammals?

… John F. Carr, 9 October, 2013 - 3:32pm

Yes

Big clouds of them follow us around the yard, and they especially like eyes and ears. I still have this specimen and could easily get more... Are males needed for species ID?

… Charley Eiseman, 9 October, 2013 - 3:38pm

Females work

Females are usually fine for Simuliidae because they are more commonly collected and their parasitic nature leads to development of useful characters associated with finding meals.

First steps in key are

Are there hairs on the dorsal side of the base of vein R, before the base of Rs? I think not but they might be small. A few later branches ask whether the stem vein (dorsally?) or the subcosta ventrally have hairs.

What is the claw shaped like? It can have a "thumb" at the base, be smoothly curved in the inside, or be mostly smoothly curved but have a "subbasal tooth." Yours probably does not have a thumb because thumbs are used for hooking onto feathers. A few species can bite man and bird.

This shows the smooth claw of a man-biting species:

Hopefully this will not be a species that can only be identified by genital features. I don't know if those can be photographed and I have no experience with slide mounted flies.

… John F. Carr, 9 October, 2013 - 4:48pm