ORIGINAL PAPER Community analysis of biting midges (Culicoides Latr.) on livestock farms in Denmark S. A. Nielsen & G. Banta & A.-M. Rasmussen & H. Skovgård Received: 19 August 2014 /Accepted: 23 September 2014 /Published online: 19 October 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract This study presents descriptive statistics and com- munity analysis of adult biting midges trapped at 16 livestock farms by means of light traps on Zealand and Lolland-Falster, Denmark. A total of 9,047 male and female Culicoides divid- ed into 24 species, were caught. Biotic and abiotic factors ranging from presence of different host species (cattle or sheep/goats), presence of small woody areas or wetlands in the surrounding landscape, and agricultural practice (organic or conventional) were included in the community analysis. Only differences in the Culicoides communities between con- ventional and organic practices were tested significantly dif- ferent. Total numbers of Culicoides individuals were higher on the organic farms than on the conventional farms. The larger loads of biting midges on the organic farms may be due to free-ranging animals that attracted the midges on pas- tures and carried them to the stable environment (the cattle of the conventional farms were held inside the stables). Presence of deciduous trees within 500 m of the farms resulted in higher numbers of Culicoides obsoletus s.s., while presence of wet- lands increased the numbers of Culicoides punctatus and Culicoides pulicaris. Furthermore, Culicoides riethi and Culicoides puncticollis (subgenus Monoculicoides) were re- corded in high numbers on individual farms. C. puncticollis was found for the first time in Denmark and so far only recorded from Zealand. Keywords Culicoides community . Organic farm . Conventional farm . Denmark, Primer 6 Introduction Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae, Culicoides Latr.) are hematophagous insects known to transmit several patho- gens affecting humans, domestic and wild animals (Mellor et al. 2000). Bluetongue (BT) is one of the economically most important infectious livestock diseases, and species of Culicoides are the only known vectors of the bluetongue virus (BTV) (Mellor and Boormann 1995). Bluetongue affects ru- minants, especially sheep and cattle. In the past, bluetongue endemic areas were found between latitude 40° N and 35° S in which the predominant vector species was Culicoides imicola Kieffer, 1913 (Sperlova and Zendulkova 2011). Prior to 1998, BT was considered an exotic disease in Europe; however, after 1998, more serotypes of BTV have been continuously present in the Mediterranean Basin, and from 2006, serotype BTV-8 has caused severe epizootics of BT also in northern Europe (Saegerman et al. 2008). Thus, an unexpected and unexplain- able emergence appeared in The Netherlands (European Commission 2006), and in the following years, the virus invaded many Nordic countries including Denmark, Sweden (latitude 56° N), and Norway (latitude 58° N) at an uncontrol- lable pace (Sperlova and Zendulkova 2011). The absence of C. imicola in Northern and Central Europe resulted in focus on species of the subgenus Avaritia (Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen, 1818), Culicoides scoticus Downes & Kettle, 1952, Culicoides chiopterus (Meigen, 1830), and Culicoides dewulfi Goetghebuer, 1936) and of the subgenus Culicoides (Culicoides pulicaris (Linnaeus, 1758) and Culicoides punctatus (Meigen, 1804)) as possible vectors for BTV. Based on surveillance studies, all six species (known as “farm-associated species”) were found hosting the S. A. Nielsen (*) : G. Banta Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, Roskilde University, Universitetsvej 1, PO Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark e-mail: san@ruc.dk A.<M. Rasmussen : H. Skovgård Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Agroecology, University of Aarhus, Forsøgsvej 1, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark Parasitol Res (2014) 113:4525–4533 DOI 10.1007/s00436-014-4142-z