ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Description and comparison of the pupae of a further two Culicoides (Avaritia) species from the dung of large herbivores in South Africa (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

 

 

Hilda Nevill^I; E.M. Nevill^I; G.J. Venter^II

^I5 Eastside Drive, Pukekohe, 2120 New Zealand
^IIParasites, Vectors & Vector-borne Diseases, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X5, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa

 

 

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ABSTRACT

In 2007 Nevill, Venter, Meiswinkel & Nevill demonstrated that the pupae of five Culicoides species belonging to the Imicola complex of the subgenus Avaritia could readily be differentiated from one another using various morphological characters. Three of the described species, Culicoides bolitinos Meiswinkel 1989; Culicoides loxodontis Meiswinkel 1992 and Culicoides sp. # 107 (= C. kwagga, Meiswinkel, unpublished thesis 1995), were reared from the dung of large herbivores, which included buffaloes, elephants, white and black rhinoceroses and zebras. However, during that study a further two Avaritia species, neither of which belonged to the Imicola complex, were reared from dung and these are the subject of the present study.
For the past 20 years the adults of these two new closely related species have been known as Culicoides sp. # 54 pale form (p.f.) Meiswinkel and Culicoides sp. # 54 dark form (d.f.) Meiswinkel. The taxonomic description and formal naming of the adults of these two species has yet to be done. The present description and comparison of their pupae show that they are two clearly distinct species; that there is no group of morphological characters that can be used to differentiate these two species from the previously described five species of the Imicola complex; and finally that there was no difference between the pupae of C. sp. # 54 d.f. nor C. sp. # 54 p.f. reared from the dung of different host animals.

Keywords: Culicoides, Diptera, dung, pupae, morphology, South Africa

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REFERENCES

DYCE, A.L. & MARSHALL, B.D. 1989. An early record of Culicoides species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) developing in the dung of game animals in southern Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 56:85-86.         [ Links ]

MEISWINKEL, R. 1989. Afrotropical Culicoides: a redescription of C. (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer, 1913 (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) with description of the closely allied C. (A.) bolitinos sp. nov. reared from the dung of the African buffalo, blue wildebeest and cattle in South Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 56:23-39.         [ Links ]

MEISWINKEL, R. 1995. Afrotropical Culicoides: biosystematics of the Imicola group, subgenus Avaritia (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), with special reference to the epidemiology of African horse sickness. M.Sc. (Agric.) thesis, University of Pretoria.         [ Links ]

MEISWINKEL, R. & BRAACK, L.E.O. 1994. African horsesickness: five species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) collected live behind the ears and at the dung of the African elephant in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 61:155-170.         [ Links ]

MEISWINKEL, R., VENTER, G.J. & NEVILL, E.M. 2004. Vectors: Culicoides spp., in Infectious diseases of livestock, edited by J.A.W. Coetzer & R.C. Tustin, Cape Town: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

NEVILL, HILDA & DYCE, A.L. 1994. Afrotropical Culicoides: Description and comparison of the pupae of seven species of the Similis supergroup (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 61:85-106.         [ Links ]

NEVILL, HILDA, VENTER, G.J., MEISWINKEL, R. & NEVILL, E.M. 2007. Comparative descriptions of the pupae of five species of the Culicoides imicola complex (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from South Africa. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 74:97-114.         [ Links ]

 

 

Accepted for publication 19 February 2009-Editor

 

 

* Author to whom correspondence is to be directed. E-mail: nevill@slingshot.co.nz