title: Assessment of vector/host contact: comparison of animal-baited traps and UV-light/suction trap for collecting Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), vectors of Orbiviruses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The emergence and massive spread of bluetongue in Western Europe during 2006-2008 had disastrous consequences for sheep and cattle production and confirmed the ability of Palaearctic Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) to transmit the virus. Some aspects of Culicoides ecology, especially host-seeking and feeding behaviors, remain insufficiently described due to the difficulty of collecting them directly on a bait animal, the most reliable method to evaluate biting rates.Our aim was to compare typical animal-baited traps (drop trap and direct aspiration) to both a new sticky cover trap and a UV-light/suction trap (the most commonly used method to collect Culicoides).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Collections were made from 1.45 hours before sunset to 1.45 hours after sunset in June/July 2009 at an experimental sheep farm (INRA, Nouzilly, Western France), with 3 replicates of a 4 sites×4 traps randomized Latin square using one sheep per site. Collected Culicoides individuals were sorted morphologically to species, sex and physiological stages for females. Sibling species were identified using a molecular assay. A total of 534 Culicoides belonging to 17 species was collected. Abundance was maximal in the drop trap (232 females and 4 males from 10 species) whereas the diversity was the highest in the UV-light/suction trap (136 females and 5 males from 15 species). Significant between-trap differences abundance and parity rates were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only the direct aspiration collected exclusively host-seeking females, despite a concern that human manipulation may influence estimation of the biting rate. The sticky cover trap assessed accurately the biting rate of abundant species even if it might act as an interception trap. The drop trap collected the highest abundance of Culicoides and may have caught individuals not attracted by sheep but by its structure. Finally, abundances obtained using the UV-light/suction trap did not estimate accurately Culicoides biting rate.
authors.affiliation: CIRAD, UMR Contrôle des maladies, F-34398 Montpellier, France. elvina.viennet@cirad.fr
authors.forename: Elvina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Viennet
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garros
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lancelot
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Allène
authors.forename: Laëtitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gardès
authors.forename: Ignace
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rakotoarivony
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crochet
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Delécolle
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moulia
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baldet
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Balenghien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002519:Ceratopogonidae / Q000502:physiology*; D004199:Disease Vectors; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings; D008297:Male; D012756:Sheep; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays