The range of attraction for light traps catching Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

BACKGROUND: Culicoides are vectors of e.g. bluetongue virus and Schmallenberg virus in northern Europe. Light trapping is an important tool for detecting the presence and quantifying the abundance of vectors in the field. Until now, few studies have investigated the range of attraction of light traps. METHODS: Here we test a previously described mathematical model (Model I) and two novel models for the attraction of vectors to light traps (Model II and III). In Model I, Culicoides fly to the nearest trap from within a fixed range of attraction. In Model II Culicoides fly towards areas with greater light intensity, and in Model III Culicoides evaluate light sources in the field of view and fly towards the strongest. Model II and III incorporated the directionally dependent light field created around light traps with fluorescent light tubes. All three models were fitted to light trap collections obtained from two novel experimental setups in the field where traps were placed in different configurations. RESULTS: Results showed that overlapping ranges of attraction of neighboring traps extended the shared range of attraction. Model I did not fit data from any of the experimental setups. Model II could only fit data from one of the setups, while Model III fitted data from both experimental setups. CONCLUSIONS: The model with the best fit, Model III, indicates that Culicoides continuously evaluate the light source direction and intensity. The maximum range of attraction of a single 4W CDC light trap was estimated to be approximately 15.25 meters. The attraction towards light traps is different from the attraction to host animals and thus light trap catches may not represent the vector species and numbers attracted to hosts

Diversity and composition of Arctiinae moth assemblages along elevational and spatial dimensions in Brazilian Atlantic Forest

When considering Neotropical Lepidoptera for conservation purposes moths are usually neglected because little is known about their biology, ecology and taxonomy. Using light-traps, we sampled moths in the subfamily Arctiinae (Noctuoidea: Erebidae) along an elevational transect (7–927 m asl) on a steep slope of Atlantic Forest in the southern region of Serra do Mar, Brazil. Serra do Mar assemblages clustered according to three elevational zones. We recorded 294 species of Arctiinae in Serra do Mar, and an approach using rarefaction and extrapolation indicated that species richness decreases with increasing elevation, similarly to patterns found in southern Ecuador and Costa Rica, although diversity in Serra do Mar is lower than in southern Ecuador. The elevational transect samples from Serra do Mar were compared with available data for two other biomes. For such comparative analyses, we focused on the tribe Arctiini, for which assemblages were partitioned into Serra do Mar, Interior Atlantic forest and Pampa. The Brazilian Pampa was expected to be less diverse due to low habitat complexity, but it was not possible to explain the higher diversity of Arctiines in Serra do Mar compared to Interior Atlantic Forest. This discrepancy and the probable reasons behind it are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed. Undoubtedly, there is a great need of extensive taxonomical revisions and basic biology research on Arctiines in the Atlantic Forest, Pampa and probably in other tropical and subtropical habitats. 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