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Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen), 1818

Synonym(s) C. varius  (Winnertz), 1852 C. yezoensis  (Matsumura), 1911 C. obscuripes  Santos Abreu, 1918 C. lacteinervis  Kieffer, 1919 C. rivicola  Kieffer, 1921 C. clavatus  Kieffer, 1921 C. heterocerus  Kieffer, 1921 C. pegobius  Kieffer, 1922 C. kabyliensis  Kieffer, 1922 C. concitus  Kieffer, 1922 C. intermedius  Okada, 1941 preoccupied by Dasyhelea intermedia (Santos Abreu), 1918 C. sintrensis  Cambournac, 1956 C. seimi  Shevchenko, 1967 General information for the taxon Biogeographic region where the taxon is recorded : Palaearctic Diagnose Wings are vaguely marked with the second radial cell pale. It is easily distinguished by the form of the male genitalia, in particular the deeply cleft (but not completely divided) ninth sternite. The females of C. obsoletus and C. scoticus are very difficult to distinguish reliably. Both sexes are very similar to C. montanus. female diagnose : wing with pale spots relatively marked. pale spots distally present in r5, m1, m2 and m4 cells. presence of two functional spermathecae with subequal size and 1 rudimentary spermatheca. presence of sclerotized ring. male diagnose : hypopygium without postlateral processes. Aedeagus characterized by shape of horseshoe. Ninth sternite with inferior margin partially divided, inferior margin shaped as a drop. Ecology C. obsoletus and C. scoticus are found in association with various breeds of livestock. Both species are widely distributed in Western Europe and usually abundant. C. obsoletus midges have been found emerging from manure left outside the farm buildings, but also from indoor samples. Zimmer et al (2010) found that dried dung adhering to walls inside animal enclosures and used animal litter was a breeding site for the C. obsoletus/scoticus complex. They also observed that C. obsoletus/scoticus complex midges were more prevalent in soil samples with a high carbon:nitrogen (C:N) index; this index indicates the amount of organic matter in soil. Viennet et al (2012) did not identified preferential landing sites for C. obsoletus (horse used as baits) whereas Townley et al. (1984) found most of C. obsoletus landing and feeding on upper parts of horse, Overgaard Nielsen (1971) on belly of heifers and Viennet et al. (2011) on lower parts of sheep. Culicoides obsoletus is able to enter into buildings. The outdoor/indoor ratio of C. obsoletus abundance was higher in summer than in spring and autumn, and was dependent on the building opening. Culicoides obsoletus was active before sunset in spring and autumn and after sunset in summer. Implications as vector species Culicoides obsoletus is suspected to play a significant role in the spread of BTV. Together with C. scoticus, they are abundant in BTV-infected areas and virus has been isolated from specimens belonging to these two species. Furthermore, in laboratory studies, the Obsoletus group has proven orally susceptible for BTV 8 and 9 (Carpenter et al. 2008).

family Ceratopogonidae       subfamily Ceratopogoninae           genus Culicoides               subgenus Amossovia               subgenus Anilomyia               subgenus Avaritia                   Culicoides abchazicus                   Culicoides bolitinos                   Culicoides brevitarsis                   Culicoides chiopterus                   Culicoides dewulfi                   Culicoides imicola                   Culicoides obsoletus                   Culicoides scoticus               subgenus Beltranmyia                   Culicoides circumscriptus               subgenus Cotocripus               subgenus Culicoides                   Culicoides fagineus                   Culicoides flavipulicaris                   Culicoides impunctatus                   Culicoides newsteadi                   Culicoides punctatus               subgenus Diphaomyia               subgenus Drymodesmyia               subgenus Fastus               subgenus Glaphiromyia               subgenus Haematomyidium               subgenus Haemophoructus               subgenus Hoffmania               subgenus Jilinocoides               subgenus Macfiella               subgenus Marksomyia               subgenus Mataemyia               subgenus Meijerehelea               subgenus Monoculicoides                   Culicoides nubeculosus               subgenus Nullicella               subgenus Oecacta                   Culicoides festivipennis               subgenus Pontoculicoides               subgenus Psychophaena               subgenus Remmia                   Culicoides enderleini                   Culicoides oxystoma               subgenus Selfia               subgenus Silvaticulicoides               subgenus Sinocoides               subgenus Synhelea               subgenus test juillet                   Culicoides testest juillet               subgenus Tokunagahelea               subgenus Trithecoides               subgenus Unknown               subgenus Wirthomyia

• Delécolle JC. 1985. Nouvelle contribution à l'étude systématique et iconographique des espèces du genre Culicoides (Diptera : Ceratopogonidae) du Nord-Est de la France. Université des Sciences de Strasbourg, France.
• Carpenter S, Lunt HL, Arav D, Venter GJ, Mellor PS. 2006. Oral susceptibility to bluetongue virus of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the United Kingdom. J Med Entomol. 43(1) : 73-78.
• Nolan DV, Carpenter S, Barber J, Mellor PS, Dallas JF, Mordue Luntz AJ, Piertney SB. 2007. Rapid diagnostic PCR assays for members of the Culicoides obsoletus and Culicoides pulicaris species complexes, implicated vectors of bluetongue virus in Europe. Vet Microbiol. 124(1-2) : 82-94.
• Augot D, Sauvage F, Jouet D, Simphal E, Veuille M, Couloux A, Kaltenbach ML, Depaquit J. 2010. Discrimination of Culicoides obsoletus and Culicoides scoticus, potential bluetongue vectors, by morphometrical and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I analysis. Infect Genet Evol. 10(5) : 629-637.
• Ninio C, Augot D, Dufour B, Depaquit J. 2011. Emergence of Culicoides obsoletus from indoor and outdoor breeding sites. Vet Parasitol. 183(1-2) : 125-129.
• Mathieu B, Delecolle JC, Garros C, Balenghien T, Setier-Rio ML, Candolfi E, Cêtre-Sossah C. 2011. Simultaneous quantification of the relative abundance of species complex members: application to Culicoides obsoletus and Culicoides scoticus (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), potential vectors of bluetongue virus. Vet Parasitol. 182(2-4) : 297-306.
• Nielsen SA, Kristensen M. 2011. Morphological and molecular identification of species of the Obsoletus group (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Scandinavia. Parasitol Res. 109(4) : 1133-1141.
• Venail R, Mathieu B, Setier-Rio ML, Borba C, Alexandre M, Viudes G, Garros C, Allene X, Carpenter S, Baldet T, Balenghien T. 2011. Laboratory and field-based tests of deltamethrin insecticides against adult Culicoides biting midges. J Med Entomol. 48(2) : 351-357.
• Deblauwe I, De Witte JC, De Deken G, De Deken R, Madder M, Van Erk S, Hoza FA, Lathouwers D, Geysen D. 2012. A new tool for the molecular identification of Culicoides species of the Obsoletus group: the glass slide microarray approach. Med Vet Entomol. 26(1) : 83-91.
• Zimmer JY, Saegerman C, Losson B, Haubruge E. 2010. Breeding sites of bluetongue virus vectors, Belgium. Emerg Infect Dis. 16(3) : 575-576.

AVAbase ID

Country of collection

Voucher

Sequence(s)

Status

Sample(s)

Picture(s)

Number

	AVA1	France			In collection			Single individual
	AVA6	France			In collection			Single individual

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