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The influence of host number on the attraction of biting midges, Culicoides spp., to light traps
Author(s) -
GARCIASAENZ A.,
McCARTER P.,
BAYLIS M.
Publication year - 2011
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.1365-2915.2010.00904.x
Subject(s) - biology , ceratopogonidae , attraction , culicoides , host (biology) , biting , zoology , ecology , veterinary medicine , medicine , philosophy , linguistics
A preliminary study was undertaken to investigate how the number of sheep below a light‐suction trap affects the number of female Culicoides obsoletus Meigen (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) caught. As the number of sheep increased from zero to three, the number of midges caught increased, but there appeared to be no further increase when six sheep were used. The lack of increase between three and six sheep is attributable to different activity rates on certain nights, perhaps in response to weather, and suggests, therefore, that catches in light traps increase linearly with sheep numbers, at least for small host numbers.