Abstract
In 2007 Nevill, Venter, Meiswinkel & Nevill demonstrated that the pupae of five Culicoides species belonging to the Imicola complex of the subgenus Avaritia could readily be differentiated from one another using various morphological characters. Three of the described species, Culicoides bolitinos Meiswinkel 1989; Culicoides loxodontis Meiswinkel 1992 and Culicoides sp. # 107 (= C. kwagga, Meiswinkel, unpublished thesis 1995), were reared from the dung of large herbivores, which included buffaloes, elephants, white and black rhinoceroses and zebras. However, during that study a further two Avaritia species, neither of which belonged to the Imicola complex, were reared from dung and these are the subject of the present study. For the past 20 years the adults of these two new closely related species have been known as Culicoides sp. # 54 pale form (p.f.) Meiswinkel and Culicoides sp. # 54 dark form (d.f.) Meiswinkel. The taxonomic description and formal naming of the adults of these two species has yet to be done. The present description and comparison of their pupae show that they are two clearly distinct species; that there is no group of morphological characters that can be used to differentiate these two species from the previously described five species of the Imicola complex; and finally that there was no difference between the pupae of C. sp. # 54 d.f. nor C. sp. # 54 p.f. reared from the dung of different host animals.
Highlights
In 1974 Dyce & Marshall (1989) “explored the likelihood of Culicoides species developing in the dung of native game animals.”
They succeeded in rearing the adults of four Culicoides species from the dung of African elephants (Loxodonta africana), African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) and Burchell’s zebras (Equus burchelli)
1 5 Eastside Drive, Pukekohe, 2120 New Zealand 2 Parasites, Vectors & Vector-borne Diseases, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X5, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa Accepted for publication 19 February 2009—Editor of the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (ARCOVI) to further investigate the dung-inhabiting Culi coides fauna of the large herbivores of the Kruger National Park, South Africa
Summary
In 1974 Dyce & Marshall (1989) “explored the likelihood of Culicoides species developing in the dung of native game animals.” They succeeded in rearing the adults of four Culicoides species from the dung of African elephants (Loxodonta africana), African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) and Burchell’s zebras (Equus burchelli). 1 5 Eastside Drive, Pukekohe, 2120 New Zealand 2 Parasites, Vectors & Vector-borne Diseases, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X5, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa Accepted for publication 19 February 2009—Editor of the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (ARCOVI) to further investigate the dung-inhabiting Culi coides fauna of the large herbivores of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This resulted in his rearing six species of the subgenus Avaritia from elephant dung (Meiswinkel & Braack 1994; Meis wink el 1995). Culicoides bolitinos was reared from buffalo dung (Meiswinkel 1989) and Culicoides sp. # 107 (= C. kwagga, Meiswinkel, unpublished thesis 1995) from the dung of zebra and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) (Meisw inkel 1995; Meiswinkel, Venter & Nevill 2004)
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