Taxonomic Morphology of Biting Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Abstract

Ceratopogononidae is a family of small nematocerous flies ranging approximately 1 to 3mm in length. Ceratopogonidae which was previously categorised as a subfamily of Chironomidae is distinguised by the presence of its biting mouthparts. Ceratopogonids commonly known as biting midges are the vectors of numerous pathogens such as viruses, protozoans and nematodes. Hence its transmission has a great veterinary and medical importance. This family is divided into four subfamilies: Leptoconopinae, Forcipomyiinae, Dasyhilinae and Ceratopogoninae. The flies were collected with the help of aspirator, Diptera net and UV light trap. The collected specimens were preserved in the 70% ethanol and later dissected out with the help of Digital Motic Dissecting Binocular. Ceratopogonidae include widely diversified morphotaxanomic character describing various subgroups. This variable character which include colour pattern, sizes of the body, proportions of various morphological parts are not very reliable for taxonomic identification. The study found that the morphotaxanomic feature like external genitalia of male and female, armature and arrangement of wing venation are much more stable. There are several puzzling problems in the determination of disputed species, can be resolved on the basis of taxonomic characters of male and female genitalia. The present paper will resolve the problem related to plethora of taxonomic character with special reference to biting midges.