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Updated: Oct 27, 2025
Feeding and Quantifying Animal-Derived Blood and Artificial Meals in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes
Published on: October 22, 2020
Blood meal analysis: host-feeding patterns of biting midges (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae, Culicoides Latreille) in
Zuzana Kasičová1, Andrea Schreiberová1, Andrea Kimáková1
1Department of Epizootiology, Parasitology and Protection of One Health, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73, 041 81 Košice, Slovak Republic.
Abstract:
Biting midges of the genus Culicoides are vectors of important pathogens affecting domestic and wild animals and have played a major role in the re-emergence of new outbreaks of bluetongue (BTV) and Schmallenberg (SBV) viruses in Europe. To determine vector-host specificity, trophic preference from blood meal analysis is of major importance in the surveillance of arthropod-borne diseases. Of 28,752 specimens collected, we identified 17 Culicoides species and investigated a total of 48 host sequences from the blood meals. Culicoides obsoletus/C. scoticus, C. dewulfi, C. pulicaris, C. lupicaris, C. punctatus, C. newsteadi, C. riethi, and C. furcillatus were found to feed on mammals (cattle, horses, and humans), birds (domestic chickens), small rodents (Apodemus flavicollis), and hares (Lepus europaeus). To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating trophic preferences of Culicoides spp. in Slovakia. This study demonstrated that Culicoides species are able to feed on domesticated host vertebrates as well as birds, rodents, and humans.
