Preferential attraction of different colours of light emitting diodes for Culicoides species 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. However, DNA sequences from only 71 individuals (70.3%) comprising of 10 Culicoides species were obtained. Blood meal analysis revealed at least 10 species that fed on five mammalian hosts including humans, but surprisingly none tested positive for birds. Results revealed that Culicoides innoxius tested positive for four not previously recognized species indicating a potential role as a vector species. Likewise, Culicoides shortti and Culicoides hegneri preferred goat and cattle respectively as hosts, whereas Culicoides palpifer preferred cattle along with buffalo as hosts, which is being reported for the first time. This is the first document on DNA‐based blood meal identification and feeding preference of Culicoides midges associated with livestock in India.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Kar

Mondal

Pal

et al. 2022

“…This species is thought to have the potential for the spread of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) along with Culicoides imicola Kieffer, 1913, principal vector of AHSV (Bakhoum et al, 2016; Dennis et al, 2019; Fall et al, 2015). Various studies reported C. oxystoma as one of the predominant species in Indian backyard farms (Harrup et al, 2016; Harsha et al, 2020; Kar, Mondal, Ghosh, et al, 2022; Kar, Mondal, Pal, et al, 2022; Mazumdar & Mazumdar, 2020) and to be abundant in BT‐infected areas (Chanda et al, 2019). Kar, Mondal, Ghosh, et al (2022) also reported large numbers of C. oxystoma attacking cattle and sheep in open pastures and it preferred cattle over sheep and goat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Kar

Mondal

Pal

et al. 2023

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. To make the identification process rapid and effective, a specific primer was designed for the identification of C. actoni based on the multiple sequence alignment of ITS1 sequences of 11 Culicoides species. Along with this, a refined version of existing C. oxystoma specific primer was proposed. The primer sets distinguished C. oxystoma and C. actoni from a pooled sample consisting of other Culicoides species as well as closely related genera such as Forcipomyia and Alluaudomyia. Our findings suggest that the primers were species specific, sensitive and have potential to discriminate vector species C. oxystoma and C. actoni from pooled samples. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first ITS1 sequences generated and submitted in GenBank for Culicoides innoxius, Culicoides shortti, Culicoides palpifer and Culicoides anophelis and the first for Culicoides peregrinus, Culicoides fulvus and C. actoni from India.

“…It was shown that the brightness of the light source may influence the efficiency of the trap for some species of mosquitoes (Barr et al ., 1960). Although several studies have dealt with the evaluation of the effectiveness of different wavelength of light (Bishop et al ., 2004, 2006; Hope et al ., 2015; Silva et al ., 2015; González et al ., 2016; Harrup et al ., 2016; Venter et al ., 2018; Mazumdar & Mazumdar, 2020) for the attraction of Culicoides , studies regarding the brightness of the light are limited. Light intensity was shown to play a significant role in increasing the numbers of especially Cuicoides brevitarsis Kieffer collected with green LEDs in Australia (Bishop et al ., 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of light emitting diode suction traps for the collection of livestock‐associated Culicoides species in South Africa

Beer¹,

Boikanyo

Venter

2021

Risk analysis of pathogens transmitted by Culicoides (Diptera; Ceratopogonidae) depends on the ability to detect all potential vectors attacking livestock in an area. Onderstepoort 220‐V ultraviolet (UV) down‐draught light traps are considered the gold standard for this purpose. To improve the flexibility of this trap in the field, in the absence of 220‐V power, the possibility of using low‐energy light emitting diodes (LEDs) was assessed. The efficiency of a standard 220‐V Onderstepoort trap (30 cm 8 W fluorescent UV light tube) was compared to that of 220‐V Onderstepoort traps fitted with either two, four or eight individual white LEDs. The Onderstepoort 220‐V trap was also compared to a 12‐V Onderstepoort trap fitted with an 8 W fluorescent UV light tube, a 12‐V Onderstepoort trap with 12 individual white LEDs and 12‐V and 220‐V Onderstepoort traps fitted with 12 individual UV LEDs. Higher numbers of Culicoides as well as species diversity were collected with a brighter light source. The use of UV LEDs in both the 12‐V and 220‐V combinations was comparable to the Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap with ration to species diversity collected. The Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap is recommended if large numbers of Culicoides need to be collected.