Host-seeking and exophilic-endophilic activities of Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) with notes on two trapping methods.

Host-seeking behavior of Culicoides species was examined from 2018 to 2019 in West Bengal, India, which elucidated diel activity, feeding success, attack rate, biting rate, and preferential landing of adult Culicoides on the cattle. A comparative assessment was done between the light trap and the aspirator. The host-seeking experiment involved a substantial timeframe of 297 h of catch collections over 27 nights.

Molecular identification of Culicoides oxystoma and Culicoides actoni vectors of bluetongue virus.

Bluetongue is a non-contagious viral disease causing significant economic losses throughout the world. The bluetongue vectors Culicoides oxystoma and Culicoides actoni, which play a significant role in the transmission of various pathogens, are distributed across different geographical realms. Adults are minute in size with wide phenotypic variation, so morphology-based species identification is severely constrained by preparatory time and shortage of taxonomic expertise.

Blood meal analysis of Culicoides species associated with livestock in West Bengal, India.

Knowledge gaps exist on the feeding pattern and host range of bluetongue virus vectors, Culicoides species, associated with livestock in India. Adult midges were trapped with ultraviolet light traps at 13 household farms adjacent to human biotope. Host DNA was isolated from individual females (n = 101; blood engorged-82, gravid-4 and parous-15) and subjected to PCR amplification targeting CytB and 16S rRNA gene fragments followed by sequencing of amplified DNA samples.