REPRODUCTIVE FEMALE BLOOD-SICKING BITING MIDGES POTENTIAL (DIPTERA: CERATOPOGONIDAE) IN THE TERRITORY OF THE TYUMEN REGION

Abstract

Despite the fact that biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are mass bloodsuckers in a number of regions of Siberia and the Far East, their biology in Russia and in foreign countries is still poorly understood. The purpose of this work is to study the physiological age of biting biting females in the subzone of the southern taiga of the Tyumen region. The physiological age of biting biting females was determined by the method of V.P. Polovodova and T.S. Detinova, proposed for mosquitoes, in a modification for biting biting by the number of "yellow bodies" - extensions of the egg tubes. Conducted studies on the physiological age of females of three species of Avaritia biting midges (Culicoides punctatus, C. fascipennis, C. grisescens), found in the southern taiga subzone of the forest zone. Species are massive bloodsuckers. They basically complete one gonotrophic cycle, but by the end of the season, the number of females that have laid twice reaches 20-30%. A significant part of the female population (10-22%) fails to complete a single gonotrophic cycle. Due to the cooling at the end of the summer season, a rejuvenation of the population is observed due to the death of physiologically old females. Comparison of changes in the abundance and age composition of females allows us to state that the first two species have two, and the last one, one generation during the season. Determining the physiological age of a female or the number of gonotrophic cycles she has completed, and, accordingly, bloodsucking, is, in addition to theoretical, practical interest for assessing the epidemiological situation in areas where biting midges are carriers of a number of infectious and parasitic diseases of talaremia, onchocerciasis, bluetongue, and Schmallenberg's disease. All this indicates the relevance of studying the density of the population as carriers of infections in the Russian Federation, unfortunately, is not carried out or is being carried out, but within the framework of narrow studies and only in some regions.