title: Age-grading the biting midge Culicoides sonorensis using near-infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services (USDA ARS), Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory, Laramie, WY, USA.
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.forename: K H S
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Peiris
authors.forename: E-J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Scholte
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wirtz
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Dowell
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002519:Ceratopogonidae / Q000254:growth & development*; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000254:growth & development*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*