BLOOD FEEDING OF BITING MIDGES (DIPTERA: CERATOPOGONIDAE) AT KOWANYAMA, CAPE YORK PENINSULA, NORTH QUEENSLAND

Abstract

Five hundred and eighty‐five blood engorged Culicoides and seven Lasiohelea comprising nine taxa were collected mainly by truck‐trapping around sunrise and sunset in tropical savannah woodland at Kowanyama and Rutland Plains, north Queensland. Blood meal analysis by a capillary ring test showed cattle and marsupials to be the most common hosts attacked. Culicoides marksi fed on cattle, marsupials and dogs (313/79/5); C. actoni on the same hosts (35/2/1); C. smeei on birds and marsupial (44/1); C. austropalpalis on birds, cattle and marsupial (13/1/1); C. brevitarsis, Lasiohelea sp. and Culicoides sp. nr nattaiensis on cattle (9, 3, and 1); C. dycei on a marsupial (1) and Culicoides sp. nr marmoratus on marsupials and a bird (2/1). Blood engorged C. actoni, C. melanesiae and Lasiohelea sp. were collected from man and C. marksi, C. actoni, C. brevitarsis and C. bundyensis group from calf. In stable traps separately baited with feral pig, dog, domestic fowls, human, grey kangaroo or calf, the following host relationships were demonstrated: C. actoni feeding on all six hosts tested, C. marksi on all except man, Lasiohelea sp. on all but man and fowl, C. melanesiae on pig, dog and calf, C. pallidothorax on kangaroo and calf and C. austropalpalis on fowl only. These latter were not checked by serology. Copyright © 1978, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved