A New Biting Midge from Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Amber of New Jersey (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Culicoides? casei n. sp., a new fossil biting midge from Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) amber of the Raritan Formation of New Jersey, is described and illustrated. It is the oldest (about 94 Ma) described ceratopogonid from North America, and is tentatively placed in Culicoides because its genitalia most closely ally it with that genus. Other characters that indicate its affinity with Culicoides include cylindrical fourth tarsomeres, wing with prominent microtrichia, and a swollen third palpal segment with a very large sensory pit. Characters it possesses that are found in Ceratopogon include long prominent cerci, palisade setae on hind tarsomere one, radial cells of wing separated by a small intermediate vein, and macrotrichia near the wing tip. Simulidium priscum Westwood from the Purbeck Formation of the Upper Jurassic (about 140 Ma) of England appears to be a species of Leptoconops, a primitive bloodsucking ceratopogonid. Pseudosimulium humidum (Westwood), also from the Purbeck Formation, which was formerly considered to be the oldest fossil ceratopogonid, is not considered to belong to the Ceratopogonidae.