Premium
Age‐grading the biting midge Culicoides sonorensis using near‐infrared spectroscopy
Author(s) -
REEVES W. K.,
PEIRIS K. H. S.,
SCHOLTE E.J.,
WIRTZ R. A.,
DOWELL F. E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2915.2009.00843.x
Subject(s) - ceratopogonidae , biology , midge , culicoides , vector (molecular biology) , zoology , biting , grading (engineering) , cecidomyiidae , larva , ecology , genetics , gene , recombinant dna
Age‐grading of insects is important in the control and monitoring of both insect populations and vector‐borne diseases. Microscopy and morphological techniques exist to age‐grade most blood‐feeding flies, but these techniques are laborious, often destructive to the insects, and slow. Near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be automated and is a non‐destructive technique for age‐grading. We applied NIRS techniques to age‐grade females of the biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis Wirth & Jones (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), the vector of bluetongue and other arboviruses in North America. Female flies of five known age cohorts (1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 days post‐emergence) from three laboratory colonies were used. The data indicate that NIRS can be used to differentiate age groups of C. sonorensis .