Development of a light trap with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the collection of culicoides biting midges

Abstract

The genus Culicoides is involved in the transmission of many pathogens of veterinary importance. To develop suction light traps for improved sampling of Culicoides biting midges, we tested light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with various wavelengths. We used seven types of LEDs [ultra-violet (UV) (365 nm), UV (375 nm), blue (470 nm), greenish-blue (500 nm), green (525 nm), yellow (575 nm) and red (625 nm)] to compare the effectiveness of midge collection at a cattle shed. We found that biting midges were significantly more attracted to the UV 375 nm LED compared to the other types of LEDs. UV 365 nm was also found to be effective for midge collection. Light traps with UV 365 nm LED were also set at 10 cattle farms and one poultry farm scattered in five prefectures in Japan (Aomori, Iwate, Shimane, Kagoshima and Okinawa). The collected midges were sorted into 27 species including important arboviral and protozoan vectors such as Culicoides oxystoma, C. brevitarsis and C. arakawae. These results suggest that the use of near-UV LED can be adopted for trapping Culicoides biting midges.