New species, country records, DNA barcoding and host blood meal analysis of some Indian species of Culicoides Latreille subgenus Trithecoides Wirth and Hubert (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

Abstract

Light trap collections from four states in India revealed the presence of four species belonging to Culicoides (Trithecoides). Included were a new species from the macfiei group, Culicoides tenebrus sp. nov., which is diagnosed with a dark mid-knee and a yellow scutum featuring a dark anterior quarter, two new country records for India: Culicoides paraflavescens Wirth and Hubert, 1959, and Culicoides laoensis Howarth, 1985, and some variants of the widely distributed species Culicoides palpifer Das Gupta and Ghosh, 1956. Collections contained blood-fed specimens of each of these species, and host blood meal analysis using 16S rRNA revealed that all specimens had fed on cattle. DNA barcodes obtained from some specimens of these species were analysed along with other species from Culicoides (Trithecoides), and a phylogenetic tree based on these sequences supported the status of each of these species. Considerable variation was observed within C. palpifer both in morphology and DNA barcodes, suggesting that this species requires some taxonomic revision. The apparent preference of these four species for cattle hosts suggests that studies into their vector potential are warranted; however, the status of the species of Trithecoides requires clarification before any vector potential studies.