Culicoides (Avaritia) gornostaevae Mirzaeva, 1984 (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) a possible vector species of the Obsoletus group new to the European fauna.

BACKGROUND: Culicoides gornostaevae Mirzaeva, 1984, known previously only from Siberia, is a boreal species included into the Obsoletus group of Culicoides sg. Avaritia. Members of the subgenus can act as vectors of various diseases. In Europe they are involved in the transmission of the Schmallenberg virus and bluetongue virus. FINDINGS: Culicoides gornostaevae Mirzaeva, 1984 is reported for the first time in Europe with new country records from Norway, Poland and Sweden. CONCLUSIONS: Culicoides gornostaevae Mirzaeva, 1984 has not been previously mentioned from Europe, even though there has been an extensive monitoring of Culicoides species during the last decades. Most probably this species has been notoriously overlooked in the materials, because of the problems with identification of the females of the subgenus Avaritia. Similar to other species of the Obsoletus group, C. gornostaevae should be regarded as a possible vector for Schmallenberg and bluetongue virus

Observations of movement dynamics of flying insects using high resolution lidar

Insects are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, yet the study of insect movement, dispersal and activity patterns remains a challenge. Here we present results from a novel high resolution laser-radar (lidar) system for quantifying flying insect abundance recorded during one summer night in Sweden. We compare lidar recordings with data from a light trap deployed alongside the lidar. A total of 22808 insect were recorded, and the relative temporal quantities measured matched the quantities recorded with the light trap within a radius of 5 m. Lidar records showed that small insects (wing size 2.5 mm 2 in cross-section) were most abundant near the lidar beam before 22:00 and then moved towards the light trap between 22:00 and 23:30. We could distinguish three insect clusters based on morphology and found that two contained insects predominantly recorded above the field in the evening, whereas the third was formed by insects near the forest at around 21:30. Together our results demonstrate the capability of lidar for distinguishing different types of insect during flight and quantifying their movements

Association between land cover and Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) breeding sites on four Danish cattle farms

Bitingmidges of the genus Culicoides are vectors of bluetongue virus. Their larval habitats are poorly known in Northern Europe. Three classes of the CORINE land cover index, found within 300 m of four farms in Denmark, were used to stratify sampling sites for a total of 360 soil core samples from 30 sampling points. Soil samples were set up in emergence chambers for hatching adult Culicoides. Two species of Culicoides (C. punctatus and C. pulicaris) emerged from nine of 12 soil samples froma wet, grazed field with manure. Seventy-two other samples from similar land cover on the three other farms were negative. Seven sampling points from pastures were incorrectly classified by CORINE. The remaining 23 sampling points were classified correctly. The visually observed land use was not sufficiently detailed to adequately predict Culicoides breeding sites in this study. The CORINE index failed to identify pastures in which Culicoides breeding sites were found