Flight behavior of adult Culicoides oxystoma and Culicoides maculatus under different temperatures in the laboratory.

The flight behavior of adult Culicoides biting midges is associated with their likelihood to reach nearby host animals and spread diseases. Therefore, evaluating the effects of atmospheric factors on the flight performances of these insects is important for understanding the spread of diseases in various circumstances. We evaluated the effects of different temperatures on the flight behavior of Culicoides oxystoma and Culicoides maculatus under laboratory conditions. The flight activities for both species particularly increased in the range between 10°C and 20°C, while the activities under 10°C were very limited for both species. The temperature when one half of the proportion of insects had flown was estimated to be 18.1°C for C. oxystoma and slightly higher than the value of 17.4°C for C. maculatus by fitting sigmoid curves. However, the wide 95% confidence interval observed for C. maculatus did not statistically justify the difference. The flight behavior of adult Culicoides biting midges was highly influenced by temperature. Our results would be of use for modeling studies or geographical analyses of diseases transmitted by these insects.