UK Culicoides surveillance, Pirbright Institute, UK, 2009

A UK surveillance network for Culicoides biting midges was ran up by The Pirbright Institute from 2006 to 2011 using 8W ultraviolet Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI) light-suction traps. Traps were set from dusk until dawn one day a week. Culicoides were categorised into groups using wing patterns and metrics. Male members of the subgenus Avaritia were identified to species level based on their genital morphology, whilst females were treated as a single group and sub-divided according to the appearance of their abdomen (unpigmented, pigmented, gravid and blood-fed). Development of pigmentation in female Culicoides is broadly indicative of aging, but direct extrapolation to parity is not recommended. For larger samples, a subsampling technique was used. 17 trapping sites are georeferenced to the county level. In most cases, there was a single trap per county. For higher resolution georeferencing, please contact the authors. (MapVEu VBP0000438)