Habitats of Culicoides spp. in an intertidal zone of southeast Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The distribution of immature Culicoides Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in the intertidal zone was investigated at Redland Bay near Brisbane, southeast Queensland. The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of Culicoides immatures and to identify environmental factors influencing these distributions. Light trapping of adult midges indicated that C.subimmaculatus Lee & Reye, C.marmoratus (Skuse), C.longior Hagan & Reye, C.henryi Lee & Reye, C.cordiger Macfie, may have been breeding in the study site. Soil sampling on six transects traversing mangrove and salt-marsh revealed the breeding habitats from which immature stages of the first four species were obtained. The elevation, vegetation and soils of positive sites were recorded and analysed for each species of Culicoides. The distribution of intertidal vegetation (mangroves and salt-marsh plants) was compared to MacNae's (1966) system of mangrove zonation for eastern Australia. The distribution of immature Culicoides did not correspond with mangrove zones, but was related to the presence or absence of intertidal vegetation. C.subimmaculatus was closely associated with a particular substrate and the presence of burrowing crabs.

Ecology of the biting midge Leptoconops albiventris in French Polynesia. II. Location of breeding sites and larval microdistribution

“…This convolvulaceous plant is the first creeping plant to colonize 'rideau' near the bare sand and may be useful as an indicator for breeding site recognition. Hagan & Kettle (1990) found a similar result for some Australian C'tt1ic.oitlr.s spp., whose distributions were related to thc presence or absence of mangrove plants (Rliizophoru sp., A iiccwrriu sp. ).…”

Rainfall Influences the Patterns of Diversity and Species Distribution in Sandy Beaches of the Amazon Coast

“…Regarding Culicoides, its presence across a larger area across this high-energy shore is notable since immatures usually inhabit low energy environments, such as tidal pools [68][69][70]. Most of the macrobenthic species recorded in this study are commonly found in other areas of the Brazilian coast [16,60,71].…”

Larval habitats of Culicoides ornatus Taylor, 1913 (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) within the mangroves of Darwin Harbour in the wet‐dry tropics of northern Australia

“…In southeast Queensland, Hagan and Kettle (1990) found that the distributions of the immatures of four species of intertidal Culicoides were related to presence or absence of vegetation. One species, C. subimmaculatus , was also closely associated with a particular substrate type and the presence of burrowing crabs.…”

“…The only Culicoides species that have been associated with burrows of marine crabs in the intertidal zone are the two Australian species C. ornatus and Culicoides subimmaculatus Lee & Reye 1953. Larvae of C. subimmaculatus are commonly found in sandy intertidal habitats in association with the small surface feeding tunnels of the crab Mictyris livingstonei McNeill 1926 (Reye & Lee 1962; Edwards 1989; Hagan & Kettle 1990; Reye 1992). The description of the C. ornatus larval habitat as being in the subterranean tunnel complex of a small mud burrowing crab by Reye (1992) was the first, and so far, only, description of a Culicoides species using the small burrows of a marine crab in muddy mangrove habitats well within the intertidal zone.…”