Fecundity and proportions of gravid females in populations of the bluetongue vector Culicoides imicola (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and several other species in Israel

The gravid proportions of five Culicoides spp. in Israel were determined based on a suction light trap placed above calves in a cowshed and on two similar traps hung in a Eucalyptus tree at elevations of 1.4 and 26 m. In the cowshed, the proportion of gravid Culicoides distinctipennis Austen showed no significant variation between seasons; C. imicola Kieffer (the dominant species) was caught in significantly smaller proportions in winter, C. schultzei gp (second most dominant) showed no significant seasonal variation. In the Eucalyptus tree, a significantly greater percentage of C. cataneii Clastrier was gravid in spring and a significantly smaller percentage was gravid in winter at the lower trap, but at the higher trap there was no significant variation between seasons. Culicoides circumscriptus Kieffer showed no significant seasonal variation at either height. C. distinctipennis was present with a significantly higher proportion gravid at the lower level in spring, but no significant variation between seasons was observed in the higher level trap. In C. imicola, gravids were proportionately more numerous in the lower trap in summer and autumn, but, in the higher trap, there was no significant variation between seasons. A significantly greater proportion of gravid C. schultzei gp females occurred at the higher level trap in spring, whereas no significant variation occurred in the lower level trap. Counts of eggs were made for C. cataneii, C. circumscriptus, C. distinctipennis, C. imicola, C. newsteadi Austen, C. obsoletus Meigen, C. saevanicus Dzhafarov, C. schultzei gp, and C. univittatus Vimmer. Counts for all four seasons were made only for C. circumscriptus and C. imicola, and only C. imicola showed significant variation between seasons (fecundity lower in autumn and winter). The bird feeders C. circumscriptus and C. distinctipennis and the suspected bird feeders C. cataneii, C. saevanicus, and C. univittatus matured more eggs than the mammal feeders C. imicola, C. obsoletus, and C. schultzei gp.