Abstract
BackgroundCertain biting midges species of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of virus to livestock worldwide. Culicoides larval ecology has remained overlooked because of difficulties to identify breeding sites, methodological constraints to collect samples and lack of morphological tools to identify field-collected individuals to the species level. After the 2007 unforeseen outbreaks of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in Senegal (West Africa), there is a need to identify suitable and productive larval habitats in horse farms for the main Culicoides species to evaluate the implementation of vector control measures or preventive actions.MethodsWe investigate twelve putative larval habitats (habitat types) of Culicoides inside and outside of three horse farms in the Niayes area of Senegal using a combination of flotation and emergence methods during four collection sessions.ResultsAmong the three studied horse farms, three habitat types were found positive for Culicoides larvae: pond edge, lake edge and puddle edge. A total of 1420 Culicoides individuals (519♂/901♀) belonging to ten species emerged from the substrate samples. Culicoides oxystoma (40 %), C. similis (25 %) and C. nivosus (24 %) were the most abundant species and emerged from the three habitat types while C. kingi (5 %) was only retrieved from lake edges and one male emerged from puddle edge. Culicoides imicola (1.7 %) was found in low numbers and retrieved only from pond and puddle edges.ConclusionsLarval habitats identified were not species-specific. All positive larval habitats were found outside the horse farms. This study provides original baseline information on larval habitats of Culicoides species in Senegal in an area endemic for AHSV, in particular for species of interest in animal health. These data will serve as a point of reference for future investigations on larval ecology and larval control measures.
Highlights
Certain biting midges species of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of virus to livestock worldwide
Study sites The study was conducted in three horse farms affected by the 2007 African horse sickness (AHS) epizootic in the Niayes area in the vicinity of Dakar and Thiès, Senegal (Fig. 1): (a) Horse farm of B horse farm of Niague (Mbao) is a riding centre with 32 horses surrounded by a protected forested area. (b) Horse farm of Niague is a riding centre with 30 horses, 1 donkey and less than 10 cows or sheep, surrounded by a market-gardening area. (c) Horse farm of Pout is a modern farm located
Among the 12 putative larval habitats, three larval habitats were found positive for Culicoides larvae using sugar flotation collection method: (g) pond edge, (h) lake edge and (i) puddle edges (Fig. 2)
Summary
Certain biting midges species of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of virus to livestock worldwide. After the 2007 unforeseen outbreaks of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in Senegal (West Africa), there is a need to identify suitable and productive larval habitats in horse farms for the main Culicoides species to evaluate the implementation of vector control measures or preventive actions. Biological, chemical or environmental control of immature stages have been overlooked principally because oviposition behavior, breeding sites, larval habitats and factors regulating immature abundance are mostly unknown for Culicoides vector species. Baseline data on larval habitats of main vector species worldwide are needed to have a better understanding of their ecology and to provide new insights to the development of efficient vector control measures [6,7,8,9]
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