Biting Midges : The Ceratopogonidae (biting midges) include serious blood-sucking pests, feeding both on humans and other mammals. Some of them spread the livestock diseases blue tongue and African horse sickness,other species though, are at least partly nectar feeders and some actually suck insect bodily fluids (Alan Weaving; Mike Picker; Griffiths, Charles Llewellyn,2003). Biting midges are flies belonging to the family Ceratopogonidae. There are around 6000 species in 125 genera world wide and more than 1000 known species in China. Four genera, Austroconops, Lasiohelea, Leptoconops and most importantly Culicoides, feed on blood of vertebrates including human. In Hong Kong, at least 57 species from 10 genera of biting midges have been recorded. …show more content…
The adults are most abundant near productive breeding sites, but will disperse to mate and to feed. The mean distance for female flight is 2 km, less than half of that distance for males. Male Culicoides typically emerge before the females and are ready to mate when the female emerges from the pupal stage. Mating typically occurs in flight when females fly into swarms of males and the insects are oriented end to end with the ventral parts of the genitalia in contact. Some species mate without swarming; instead, the males go to hosts where the female is likely to feed on blood; mating occurs when she finishes feeding. The biting midges are primarily a nuisance and the major medical issue associated with Culicoides is allergic reactions to the bites. However, like other blood feeding Diptera, Culicoides species are vectors of pathogens that can cause disease in humans and animals. In Central and South America, western and central Africa, Asia and some Caribbean islands, biting midges are the vectors of filarial worms in the genus Mansonella. These parasites cause infection in humans that produces dermatitis and skin lesions because the adult worms are located in the