Influence of bacterial strains on oviposition and larval development of two BTV vector species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae): an approach to colony establishment

The biting midges, Culicoides peregrinus Kieffer and Culicoides oxystoma Kieffer (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are the most significant vector species of bluetongue virus (BTV) in the Oriental region, including India. Rearing of these vector species was cumbersome; previous researchers supplemented the rearing substrates primarily with cattle dung (the habitat), yeast, and nutrient broth. Other investigations reiterated that an enriched milieu of live bacteria is required for the oviposition and developmental progression of the immatures, as they failed to develop in sterile medium. Therefore, bacteria-based approaches provide novel opportunities for artificial rearing. This investigation tries to simplify and create a cleaner version of rearing based on different bacterial strains. The substrate bacterial strains were biochemically characterized, and their influence on oviposition, hatching, and larval development was analyzed and evaluated under laboratory conditions. We artificially rea..., Live adult midges were collected into a muslin cage fitted under the UV LED light trap operated overnight in a backyard cattle shed located in the district of Burdwan (West Bengal, India). The live engorged females of Culicoides spp. were captured in autoclaved small glass vials. The engorged females of C. peregrinus and C. oxystoma were identified by observing the glass vials containing midges under a binocular microscope.
The oviposition bed was prepared by placing autoclaved absorbent cotton at the bottom of an autoclaved glass vial, and a round piece of filter paper was placed on top of it. The beds were moistened with respective cultures of the following pure-cultured bacterial strains (~ 102 CFU per mL): Bacillus cereus 1B, B. cereus MFA, B. cereus MFB, and A. faecalis CU5A, which were allowed to grow for 48 hours in nutrient broth medium (HiMedia, M002) solution. The following experimental controls were considered: oviposition beds moistened with a) distilled water and tap w..., # Influence of bacterial strains on oviposition and larval development of two BTV vector species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae): an approach to colony establishment

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.8931zcs3z](10.5061/dryad.8931zcs3z)

## Description of the data and file structure

The raw data are in .xlsx format, containing data of abdominal eggs, number of oviposited eggs, hatched eggs, larval, pupal survivability, and adult emergence of *Culicoides peregrinus* and *Culicoides oxystoma* when reared by utilizing 4 bacterial strains. The following experimental controls were considered for oviposition: oviposition beds moistened with a) distilled water and tap water (both autoclaved) as the negative control, and b) distilled water and tap water (non-autoclaved) as the positive controls for *C. peregrinus* and *C. oxystoma*, respectively. The following experimental controls were considered: rearing plates prepared with a) autoclaved substrate (mud-broth and yeast solutions) as a neg...,