Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD, CSIC), Seville, Spain.
Ciber de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
Parasit Vectors. 2024 Aug 12;17(1):338. doi: 10.1186/s13071-024-06414-2.
Culicoides midges have been well-studied in Spain, particularly over the last 20 years, mainly because of their role as vectors of arboviral diseases that affect livestock. Most studies on Culicoides are conducted using suction light traps in farmed environments, but studies employing alternative trapping techniques or focusing on natural habitats are scarce.
In the present study, we analyze Culicoides captured in 2023 at 476 sites in western Andalusia (southern Spain) using carbon dioxide-baited Biogents (BG)-sentinel traps across different ecosystems.
We collected 3,084 Culicoides midges (3060 females and 24 males) belonging to 23 species, including the new species Culicoides grandifovea sp. nov. and the first record of Culicoides pseudolangeroni for Europe. Both species were described with morphological and molecular methods and detailed data on spatial distribution was also recorded. The new species showed close phylogenetic relations with sequences from an unidentified Culicoides from Morocco (92.6% similarity) and with Culicoides kurensis. Culicoides imicola was the most abundant species (17.4%), followed by Culicoides grandifovea sp. nov. (14.6%) and Culicoides kurensis (11.9%). Interestingly, Culicoides montanus was the only species of the obsoletus and pulicaris species complexes captured, representing the first record of this species in southern Spain. A total of 53 valid Culicoides species have been reported in the area, with 48 already reported in literature records and 5 more added in the present study. Information on the flight period for the most common Culicoides species is also provided.
To the best of our knowledge, our study represents the most comprehensive effort ever done on nonfarmland habitats using carbon-dioxide baited suction traps for collecting Culicoides. Our data suggests that using carbon dioxide traps offers a completely different perspective on Culicoides communities compared with routinely used light traps, including the discovery of previously unrecorded species.
在过去的 20 年里，西班牙对蠓类进行了深入研究，主要是因为它们是影响牲畜的虫媒病毒病的载体。大多数关于蠓类的研究都是在养殖环境中使用吸虫灯陷阱进行的，但利用替代诱捕技术或专注于自然栖息地的研究却很少。
在本研究中，我们分析了 2023 年在西班牙南部的安达卢西亚西部 476 个地点使用二氧化碳诱捕的 Biogents（BG）-sentine 陷阱捕获的 3084 只蠓类（3060 只雌性和 24 只雄性），这些蠓类分布在不同的生态系统中。
我们共收集到 23 种蠓类，包括新种大斑蠓（Culicoides grandifovea sp. nov.）和欧洲首例记录的库蠓（Culicoides pseudolangeroni）。这两个物种都是通过形态学和分子方法描述的，并记录了详细的空间分布数据。新种与来自摩洛哥的一种未鉴定的库蠓（92.6%相似）和库蠓（Culicoides kurensis）亲缘关系密切。数量最多的物种是伊蚊（17.4%），其次是大斑蠓（14.6%）和库蠓（11.9%）。有趣的是，仅捕获到 montanus 这一种属于 obsoletus 和 pulicaris 种复合体的蠓类，这是该物种在西班牙南部的首次记录。该地区共报告了 53 种有效蠓类，其中 48 种已在文献记录中报告，本研究新增 5 种。还提供了最常见的库蠓类的飞行期信息。
据我们所知，我们的研究代表了迄今为止在非农田生境中使用二氧化碳诱捕器收集蠓类的最全面的努力。我们的数据表明，与常规使用的吸虫灯相比，使用二氧化碳陷阱可以对蠓类群落有一个完全不同的视角，包括发现以前未记录的物种。
