Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of Kenya.

The 55 known Culicoides species of Kenya, including the adult females of 52 species and the adult males of 46 species, are described. New taxa described for Kenya include C. isechnoensis n. sp. (subgenus Meijerehelea), C. karenensis n. sp. (similis group), and C. nairobiensis n. sp. (inornatipennis group). Three new species of the C. schultzei group are left unnamed. The Kenyan fauna is arranged in five recognized subgenera (10 species), eight species groups (36 species), and nine unplaced species. Comprehensive taxonomic keys are included for adult females and males; and sections in the treatments of each species are devoted to synonymy, type material, diagnosis, descriptions of the adult female and male, subgeneric or group status, larval habitats, adult seasonal and ecological distribution, host preferences and biting habits, medical importance (if appropriate), geographic distribution, and material examined. Line drawing illustrations of females of 52 species and males of 45 species are presented; they include the head, antenna, maxillary palpus, mandible, legs, wing, and spermathecae of females, and the genitalia of males.