title: Insight on the larval habitat of Afrotropical Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in the Niayes area of Senegal, West Africa.
abstract: Certain biting midges species of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of virus to livestock worldwide. Culicoides larval ecology has remained overlooked because of difficulties to identify breeding sites, methodological constraints to collect samples and lack of morphological tools to identify field-collected individuals to the species level. After the 2007 unforeseen outbreaks of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in Senegal (West Africa), there is a need to identify suitable and productive larval habitats in horse farms for the main Culicoides species to evaluate the implementation of vector control measures or preventive actions.
  
  
  
  We investigate twelve putative larval habitats (habitat types) of Culicoides inside and outside of three horse farms in the Niayes area of Senegal using a combination of flotation and emergence methods during four collection sessions.
  
  
  
  Among the three studied horse farms, three habitat types were found positive for Culicoides larvae: pond edge, lake edge and puddle edge. A total of 1420 Culicoides individuals (519♂/901♀) belonging to ten species emerged from the substrate samples. Culicoides oxystoma (40 %), C. similis (25 %) and C. nivosus (24 %) were the most abundant species and emerged from the three habitat types while C. kingi (5 %) was only retrieved from lake edges and one male emerged from puddle edge. Culicoides imicola (1.7 %) was found in low numbers and retrieved only from pond and puddle edges.
  
  
  
  Larval habitats identified were not species-specific. All positive larval habitats were found outside the horse farms. This study provides original baseline information on larval habitats of Culicoides species in Senegal in an area endemic for AHSV, in particular for species of interest in animal health. These data will serve as a point of reference for future investigations on larval ecology and larval control measures.
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR CMAEE, Montpellier, France. thierno.bakhoum@cirad.fr.|Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal. thierno.bakhoum@cirad.fr.
authors.forename: Mame T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bakhoum
authors.affiliation: Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal.
authors.forename: Assane G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Fall
authors.affiliation: Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal.
authors.forename: Moussa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fall
authors.affiliation: Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal.
authors.forename: Chiavaroli K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Bassene
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR CMAEE, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baldet
authors.affiliation: Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal.
authors.forename: Momar T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Seck
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR CMAEE, Montpellier, France.|PATTEC coordination office, P. O. Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Jérémy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bouyer
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR CMAEE, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garros
authors.affiliation: Cirad, UMR CMAEE, Montpellier, France.|Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National de l'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, BP 2057, Dakar-Hann, Sénégal.|Cirad, UMR INTERTRYP, F-34398, Montpellier, France.|Present address: CIRDES, BP454, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gimonneau
mesh_terms: D000355:African Horse Sickness / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D000356:African Horse Sickness Virus; D000818:Animals; D002519:Ceratopogonidae / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D006736:Horses; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D012675:Senegal
keywords: African horse sickness; Culicoides; Flotation technique; Larval habitats; Senegal