Rearing Culicoides obsoletus (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) on agar cultures of nematodes

Culicoides obsoletus midges were reared on a culture of nematodes in small Petri dishes on an agar-based medium. At 25 C pupae were formed from 12 to 71 days after the eggs hatched. The efficiency of the method was low but, if improved, could be useful for investigating relationships between members of the Avaritia subgenus. An unexplained feature was the almost total absence of females among these laboratory-reared midges.