The biting habits of some Jamaican Culicoides. I. C. barbosai Wirth & Blanton.

Abstract

Field studies on the biting habits of Culicoides barbosai Wirth & Blanton were made near Montego Bay, Jamaica, during 1959 and 1960. Females of C. barbosai were collected in sufficient numbers for analysis in. seven experiments, six from Florida beach and one from Beading. Four positions were marked out on each site. Begular meteorological observations were made in the middle of the catching positions. An experiment consisted of four trials held on different days, each trial being composed of four collecting periods of 15 min. separated by 5-min. intervals. In each period four individuals collected, two exposing an arm each and two a leg. Individuals collected in a different position in each period of a trial.Catches were logarithmically transformed for analysis and tests of significance. The experiments were designed to provide correction factors for limbs, positions on Florida beach, and collectors, for use in other experiments. Correction factors are given as logarithms for application to transformed catches.More C. barbosai were collected from arms than legs, and catches in position IV were significantly higher than those in positions I, II and III. Five collectors (C, D, K, L and S) were compared. The ratio between leg/arm catches from D, who collected in only two experiments, was significantly different from those of C, L and S. The differences between the catches of C, K and L were insignificant, but all three caught significantly more than S. The catches from L were smaller after sea bathing and, compared to C and S, L’s catches increased significantly immediately after sunset. For this reason and to avoid inhibiting winds, quantitative studies on females of C. barbosai are best conducted in the early morning (dawn + 40 min.).The experimental errors (residual variances) were homogeneous with probabilities of 0.1 (C. barbosai—7 experiments) and 0.4 (C. furens (Poey)—8 experiments).