Clarification of the Cardinium infection status of C. pulicaris and C. punctatus from Lewis et al. study

An account detailing the attempted replication of a previous screening study (Lewis et al. 2014; doi: 10.1111/mve.12055), which found Cardinium positive Culicoides pulicaris. Through COI barcoding of the original DNA extracts used by Lewis, cross-contamination of Culicoides punctatus and Culicoides pulicaris extracts is confirmed. This suggests the intermediate prevalence inferred from the original study is an artefact.