Molecular differentiation of Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the subgenus Culicoides Latreille in Denmark

Abstract

Identification of Culicoides biting midges to species has attracted attention due to the recent outbreak of bluetongue disease in Northern Europe. Identification of Culicoides to species level has been based on morphological characters and is difficult as several species belonging to species complexes are hard to distinguish. We evaluated the use of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) barcode region in the identification of species within the subgenus Culicoides. COI barcode sequence divergence within species was <1%, whereas it ranged from 12.5% to 19.8% between subgenus Culicoides species. The divergence of subgenus Culicoides species to C. nubeculosus from the subgenus Monoculicoides ranged from 24.4% to 26.1%. Specimens were differentiated into eight unique clusters, including the four common Palaearctic species Culicoides punctatus, Culicoides pulicaris, Culicoides impunctatus, and Culicoides grisescens. Additionally, this study confirms the existence of Culicoides halophilus as a valid taxon and presents the first Culicoides deltus barcode sequences. Three additional groups of specimens were identified: Culicoides dk1 with a COI barcode diverging by 14.3% to 17.2% from other subgenus Culicoides species and Culicoides Kalix and Culicoides dk3, which diverged by 5.9% from each other and showed 12.5% to 17.6% divergence in COI barcode to subgenus Culicoides specimens.

Description of Culicoides (Culicoides) bysta n. sp., a new member of the Pulicaris group (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Slovakia

“…Following the discovery of this genetic diversity, in 2013, a new species, C. paradoxalis Ramilo & Delécolle, 2013, close to C. lupicaris was described from France and Portugal [21]. In Denmark, three species molecularly characterised in 2011 [18], have been recently described as new species, i.e. C. boyi , C. selandicus Nielsen, Kristensen & Pape, 2015 and C. kalix Nielsen, Kristensen & Pape, 2015 [18, 22].…”

“…In Denmark, three species molecularly characterised in 2011 [18], have been recently described as new species, i.e. C. boyi , C. selandicus Nielsen, Kristensen & Pape, 2015 and C. kalix Nielsen, Kristensen & Pape, 2015 [18, 22]. It is worth to mention that for the four above mentioned recently described species, i.e.…”

The evolutionary history of two species of Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Lake Baikal (Eastern Siberia)

“…Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, and Culicoides (Sweeney et al 2011;Lassen, Nielsen, Skovg ard, and Kristensen 2012). Phylogenetic relationships of Baikal chironomids with the fauna inhabiting geographically distant latitudes (Table 1) (Orthocladius) robacki, it was impossible to design any evolutionary scenario due to lack of their sibling taxa in the data-set (Figures 2 and 3).…”

Community analysis of biting midges (Culicoides Latr.) on livestock farms in Denmark

“…Previous studies on Culicoides in Denmark contain valuable taxonomical and biological information from different biotopes, e.g., forest locations, heaths, bogs, and fouling marshes including livestock farms (Lassen et al 2011(Lassen et al , 2012aNielsen 1963Nielsen , 1971Nielsen , 1982Nielsen and Christensen 1975;Nielsen et al 1998Nielsen et al , 2003. When information from these studies are combined, we can conclude that C. obsoletus s.s. and C. punctatus, irrespective of biotopes, are the two most prominent species in Denmark.…”

“…The local species community of biting midges is without doubt dependent on a vast number of biotic and abiotic factors ranging from the presence of different host species (Lassen et al 2012a), surrounding landscape elements such as woodlands and wetlands (Conte et al 2007;Takken et al 2008;Thompson et al 2013), or the farming practice, e.g., conventional versus organic farming (Mehlhorn et al 2007).…”