Culicoides obsoletus

Culicoides obsoletus
Wings of several species of Culicoides, including C. obsoletus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Ceratopogonidae
Genus:	Culicoides
Subgenus:	Avaritia
Species:	C. obsoletus
Binomial name
Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen, 1818)

Culicoides obsoletus the name of a species (and a species group) of midges in the subgenus Avaritia. According to a molecular phylogeny, ^[1] Avaritia is monophyletic, and Culicoides obsoletus, Culicoides scoticus and Culicoides chiopterus should be part of the Obsoletus complex whereas Culicoides dewulfi should be excluded from it.

The species group covers five closely related species:

• Culicoides chiopterus
• Culicoides dewulfi
• Culicoides scoticus
• Culicoides obsoletus
• Culicoides montanus

Sometimes, a reference can be made to the Obsoletus complex. This complex consists of three species, namely:

• Culicoides obsoletus
• Culicoides scoticus
• Culicoides montanus

If reference is made only to Culicoides obsoletus s.str., it means only

• Culicoides obsoletus

Culicoides obsoletus is thought to be the main vector of the BTV8 outbreak in Northern Europe. ^[2]

References

1. Augot, Denis; Mathieu, Bruno; Hadj-Henni, Leila; Barriel, Véronique; Zapata Mena, Sonia; Smolis, Sylvia; Slama, Darine; Randrianambinintsoa, Fano José; Trueba, Gabriel; Kaltenbach, Matthieu; Rahola, Nil; Depaquit, Jérôme (2017). "Molecular phylogeny of 42 species of Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) from three continents". Parasite. 24: 23. doi:10.1051/parasite/2017020. ISSN   1776-1042. PMC   5482051 . PMID   28643630.
2. Melhorn, Heinz (June 2007). "First occurrence of Culicoides obsoletus-transmitted Bluetongue virus epidemic in Central Europe". Parasitology Research. 101 (1): 219–228. doi:10.1007/s00436-007-0519-6. PMID   17385085.