Fleas are wingless parasites that primarily feed on the blood of humans and animals, and they can transmit various diseases, including tapeworms and bubonic plague. Their life cycle comprises four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult, with adult fleas emerging in response to host presence. Similar to fleas, ticks are blood-feeding parasites that can transmit numerous diseases; they have a complex life cycle with stages that include egg, larva, nymph, and adult, and they also serve as vectors for a variety of pathogens.

1. Fleas
•Fleas are a type of wingless parasite found
worldwide. They feed off the blood of
humans and animals such as dogs and cats.
Since fleas use a wide range of hosts,
diseases can be transferred from one host to
another.

2. Fleas are known to transmit tapeworm larvae
and, uncommonly, the disease murine
typhus. They are most notorious for
transmitting bubonic plague from wild
rodents to humans in certain parts of the
world (not Australia).

3. The three main species of flea that infest humans are:
•Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
•Dog flea (Ctenocephalides canis)
•Human flea (Pulex irritans).
•The cat and dog flea are common in Australia. A flea bite
is intensely itchy and secondary infections caused by
scratching are common.

4. Fleas life cycle
• Most fleas have four life stages: egg, larva, pupa (in a cocoon), and
adult.

5. •This diagram shows the typical lifecycle of fleas. The
lifecycle of fleas can be very quick or last many
months to years depending on the environmental
conditions throughout the life stages.
•After finding an animal or human host and taking a
blood meal, adult fleas will mate and begin laying eggs
in the fur and surroundings of the host. Eggs will hatch
in one to ten days depending on environmental
conditions such as temperature and humidity.

6. •After hatching from an egg, fleas enter
their larval stage. Larvae are free
moving and feed on blood and flea
feces (poop; also called “flea dirt”), in
order to continue their development.

7. •Within 5-20 days of feeding on flea dirt, the
larvae will spin a cocoon, and enter the pupa
stage. The cocoon protects pupa from
environmental conditions and
insecticides/repellents for several days or
weeks until adult fleas are ready to emerge.

8. •Adult fleas will not emerge from the cocoon until
there is a clear presence of a host, such as movement
or body heat, which will signal that there is a blood
meal readily available.
•Adult females begin to feed from a host within a few
hours of emerging from the cocoon and soon after will
mate and begin laying eggs.

9. Symptoms of a flea bite
The bite of a flea has certain features, including:
• It is extremely itchy.
• A red, swollen weal develops within half an hour of the bite.
• After a day or so, the weal (lump) may develop into a blister or small
wound.
• The legs and feet are often targeted.
• Secondary infections caused by scratching are common.
• Some people may become hypersensitive (very sensitive) to bites.

10. Physical characteristics of the flea
A flea:
• is wingless, oval shaped and around 2 to 8mm long
• is light to deep brown in colour.
• has a disproportionately small head
• has six legs
• has large hind legs that enable them to jump long distances.

11. Blood feeding by fleas
•Adult fleas can survive for some months without
feeding. The flea uses its saw-like mandibles
(jaws) to cut through skin, usually on accessible
parts of the body such as the legs or feet. Flea
saliva contains anticoagulants to encourage the
blood to keep flowing.

12. •Female fleas are prompted to lay their eggs after
feeding. The eggs are light coloured and oval
shaped. The larvae cocoon themselves within
weeks of hatching. Vibration, such as footsteps,
prompts adult fleas to emerge from their
cocoons. This is why you may be bitten after
entering a house that has been unoccupied for
some time.

13. Household pets and fleas
•Dogs and cats are common ‘reservoirs’ for
fleas. Your pet may be irritated by flea bites
and scratch often. Check for fleas by parting
the fur, particularly around the ears and rump.
Look for the fleas themselves or for flea
faeces (poo).

14. Treatment for flea bites
Suggestions to treat flea bites include:
•Resist the urge to scratch.
•Wash the bites with antiseptic soap to reduce the risk of
infection.
•Apply an icepack frequently to help relieve swelling.
•Use calamine lotion, anaesthetic creams or similar to
treat the itching.

15. •See your pharmacist for advice on appropriate
antihistamine medications to reduce the
swelling.
•Seek treatment for possible tapeworm
infection, since fleas can transmit this parasite
through their bite.
•See your doctor if the symptoms worsen or if
a secondary infection develops (indicated by
discharge of pus from wounds).

16. Treating of pet for fleas
Infested animals should be treated fortnightly for several weeks.
Suggestions on treating your pet include:
• See your veterinarian for a range of appropriate flea-killing
products.
• Treatment options include tablets to be swallowed by the
animal, and solutions or powders to be applied to their fur.
• Treat your pet for tapeworm, since fleas can transmit this
parasite through their bite.

17. Tick
• Ticks belong to two major families, the Ixodidae
or hard ticks, and the Argasidae, or soft ticks. Nuttalliella,
a genus of tick from southern Africa, is the only member of t
he family
Nuttalliellidae
, and represents the most primitive living lineage of ticks

18. •Adults
have ovoid/pear-shaped bodies (idiosomas)
which become engorged with blood when th
ey feed, and eight legs.

19. Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Superorder: Parasitiformes
Order: Ixodida
Superfamily: Ixodoidea
Ticks

20. Families
Ixodidae – hard ticks
Argasidae – soft ticks
Nuttalliellidae – monotypic
†Deinocrotonidae – monotypic
†Khimairidae – monotypic
Diversity
18 genera, about 900 species

22. Ixodes ricinus, a hard tick
Black-legged-deer-tick.webp

23. Ixodes scapularis

24. •Their
cephalothorax and abdomen are completely
fused. In addition to having a hard shield on
their dorsal surfaces, known as the
scutum
, hard ticks have a beak-like structure at the
front containing the mouthparts, whereas so
ft ticks have their mouthparts on the undersi
de of their
bodies
.

25. •Hard tick adult males and females have
different coloration and females are
somewhat larger than males. Hard ticks
have a “plate” on their back that is called
a scutum. Also, hard ticks have
mouthparts that are visible when the tick
is viewed from above.

26. •Soft ticks appear to have a wrinkled body; lack a
scutum; and the males and females are very close to the
same size. Viewing a soft tick from above would give
someone the impression that soft ticks do not have
mouthparts. However, that is not the case; rather their
mouthparts are located on the underside of the body so
that the front portion of the tick’s body hides the
mouthparts.

27. Ticks locate potential hosts by sensing odor, body he
at, moisture, and/or vibrations in the environment.

28. •Ticks have four stages to their life cycle,
namely egg, larva, nymph, and adult.
Ticks belonging to the Ixodidae family underg
o either a one-host, two-host, or three-host
life cycle. Argasid ticks have up to seven
nymphal stages (
instars), each one requiring blood ingestion, an
d as such,
Argasid ticks undergo a multihost life cycle.

29. •Because of their hematophagous (blood-inge
sting) diets, ticks act as
vectors of many serious diseases that affect h
umans and other animals.

30. Anatomy and physiology
•A hard-bodied tick of the family Ixodidae,
the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum)
•They have the gnathosoma
(head), which contains the mouthparts, and
idiosoma
(body), which contains the legs, digestive tract, a
nd reproductive organs.

31. •The gnathosoma is a feeding structure with mouthp
arts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood; it
is the front of the head and contains neither the brai
n nor the eyes
.

32. •Features of the gnathosoma include two palps
, two chelicerae, and hypostome. The
hypostome
acts as stabilizer and helps to anchor the tick's
mouthparts to the host.
The chelicerae are specialized appendages used
for cutting and piercing into the host's skin whil
e palps are
leglike appendages that are sensory in function.

33. •Most ticks are inornate and appear to be brown or
reddish brown in color. However, some species are
ornate and have distinctive white patterns on the
scutum.

34. •Larval ticks hatch with six legs, acquiring the
other two after a blood meal and molting
into the nymph stage.In the nymphal
and adult stages, ticks have eight legs, each of
which has seven segments and is tipped with a
pair of claws. The legs are sometimes ornament
ed and usually bear sensory or tactile hairs
.

35. In addition to being used for locomotion, the tarsus of
leg contains a unique sensory structure, Haller's organ
, which can detect odors and chemicals emanating fro
m the host, as well as sensing changes in temperature
and air currents
. Ticks can also use Haller's organs to perceive
infrared light emanating from a host.

36. •Ticks are extremely tough, hardy, and resilient
animals. They can survive in a near vacuum for
as long as half an hour.
Their slow metabolism during their
dormant periods
enables them to go prolonged durations between
meals
.

37. •During droughts, they can endure dehydration wit
hout feeding for as long as eighteen weeks, howe
ver, ticks with limited energy reserves may succu
mb to
desiccation after thirty-six weeks.

38. •Ticks can withstand temperatures just above
−18 °C (0 °F) for more than two hours and can
survive temperatures between −7 and −2 °C
(20 and 29 °F) for at least two weeks. Ticks
have even been found in Antarctica, where
they feed on penguins.

39. Diet and feeding
•Ticks are ectoparasites and consume blood
to satisfy all of their nutritional requirement
s. They are obligate
hematophages
, and require blood to survive and move fro
m one stage of life to another.

40. •Ticks find their hosts by detecting an animals' breath
and body odors, sensing body heat, moisture, or
vibrations.

41. •Tick saliva contains about 1,500 to 3,000
proteins, depending on the tick species. The
proteins with anti-inflammatory properties,
called evasins
, allow ticks to feed for eight to ten days with
out being perceived by the host animal.

42. Range and habitat
•Tick species are widely distributed around the
world.
They tend to flourish more in warm, humid clim
ates, because they require a certain amount of mo
isture in the air to undergo
metamorphosis
, and low temperatures inhibit their development
of eggs to larvae.

43. Ticks of domestic animals
cause considerable harm to livestock through pa
thogenic transmission, causing anemia through b
lood loss, and damaging wool and hides
.

44. •The Tropical Bont tick
wreaks havoc on livestock and wildlife in Afr
ica, the Caribbean, and several other countries
through the spread of disease, specifically
heartwater disease. The spinose ear tick
has a worldwide distribution, the young feed
inside the ears of cattle and various wildlife.

45. •A habitat preferred by ticks is the interface where a
lawn meets the forest, or more generally, the
ecotone
, which is unmaintained transitional edge habitat bet
ween woodlands and open areas. Therefore, one tic
k management strategy is to remove leaf litter, brus
h, and weeds at the edge of the woods
.

46. Ecology
•In general, ticks are found wherever their
host species occur. Migrating birds carry
ticks with them on through their migrations;
a study of migratory birds passing through
Egypt discovered more than half the bird
species examined were carrying ticks

47. •Mites and nematodes feed on ticks, which are
also a minor nutritional resource for birds.
More importantly, ticks act as a disease vector
and behave as the primary hosts of many
different pathogens such as spirochaetes.

48. •Ticks can transmit an array of infectious diseases
that affect humans and other animals.
Ticks that carry zoonotic
pathogens often tend to have a wide host range. T
he infective agents can be present not only in the a
dult tick, but also in the eggs produced plentifully
by the
females.

49. Life cycle
•All three tick families have four life cycle stages:
egg, larva, nymph, and adult.
•Ixodidae ticks have three different life cycles.
Depending on the species, Ixodids can either
possess a one-host life cycle, two-host life cycle,
or three-host life cycle.

50. One-host ticks.
•In one-host ticks the tick remains on the host
through the larval, nymphal, and adult stages, only
to leave the host to lay eggs. Eggs laid in the
environment hatch into larvae, which immediately
seek out a host in which to attach and feed. Fed
larvae molt into unfed nymphs that remain on the
host.

51. •After engorging on the host's blood, the nymphs
molt into sexually mature adults that remain on the
host in order to feed and mate. Once a female is
both fed and ready to lay eggs, only then does she
leave the host in search of a suitable area to deposit
her eggs. Ticks that follow this life cycle are called
one-host ticks. The winter tick Dermacentor
albipictus and the cattle tick Boophilus microplus
are examples of one-host ticks.

52. Two-host ticks
•The life cycle of a two-host tick often spans two
years.
During fall the pregnant female tick will drop of
f her second host and lay her eggs. The eggs hat
ch during winter, the following spring the larvae
emerge and attach to their first host.

53. •Newly hatched larvae attach to a host in orde
r to obtain a blood meal. They remain on the
host then develop into nymphs. Once engorg
ed, they drop off the host and find a safe area
in the natural environment in which to molt i
nto adults, this typically occurs during the wi
nter.

54. •Both male and female adults seek out a host on
which to attach, which may be the same body t
hat served as host during their early developme
nt but is often a larger mammal. Once attached,
they feed and mate.
Gravid females drop from the host to oviposit
in the environment. Ticks that complete their li
fe cycle in this manner are called two-host tick
s, like
Hyalomma anatolicum excavatum.

55. Three-host ticks
•Most ixodid ticks require three hosts, and their
life cycles typically span three years. The female
tick drops off its host, often in the fall, and lays
thousands of eggs.The
larvae hatch in the winter and emerge in the spri
ng. When the larvae emerge, they attach and feed
primarily on small mammals and birds.

56. •During the summer the larvae become engorge
d and drop off the first host to molt and become
nymphs, this often occurs during the fall. The f
ollowing spring the nymphs emerge and seek o
ut another host, often a small rodent. The nymp
hs become engorged and drop off the host in th
e fall to molt and become adults.

57. The following spring the adult ticks emerge and seek
out a larger host, often a large mammal such as cattle
or even humans. Females will mate on their third host.
Female adults then engorge on blood and prepare to
drop off to lay her eggs on the ground, while males
feed very little and remain on the host in order to
continue mating with other females.

58. Tick-borne disease
•Ticks can transmit many kinds of pathogens
, such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa
, that infect ticks’ hosts. A tick can harbor
more than one type of pathogen, making
diagnosis more difficult.

59. •Species of the bacterial genus Rickettsia
are responsible for typhus, rickettsialpox,
boutonneuse fever, African tick bite fever,
Rocky Mountain spotted fever,
Flinders Island spotted fever, and
Queensland tick typhus
(Australian tick typhus).

60. •Other tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease
and Q fever, Colorado tick fever,
Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, tularemia
, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis
, Bourbon virus, and
tick-borne meningoencephalitis, as well as bovine
anaplasmosis and the Heartland virus

61. •Tropical bont ticks transmit the heartwater
, which can be particularly devastating in cattle
.
The ticks carried by migratory birds act as rese
rvoirs and vectors of foreign infectious disease
s. In the Egyptian migratory bird study, over 20
strains of pathogenic viruses were detected wit
hin the tick sample from autumn.

62. •Not all ticks in an infective area are infected
with transmittable pathogens, and both
attachment of the tick and a long feeding
session are necessary for diseases to be
transmitted.

63. •Consequently tick bites often do not lead t
o infection, especially if the ticks are rem
oved within 36 hours. Adult ticks can be r
emoved with fine-tipped tweezers or prop
rietary tick removal tools, before then disi
nfecting the wound.

64. •Bifenthrin and permethrin, both pyrethroids
, are sometimes used as tick-control measures, a
lthough they have the disadvantage of being
carcinogenic
and able to attack the nervous systems of other
species besides
ticks.

65. •Many tick-transmitted viruses, such as
Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus,
Kyasanur Forest disease virus, Alkhumra
hemorrhagic fever virus, and
Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus
, are classified as dangerous enough to require
biosafety level 4
precautions in laboratory environments.

66. •Precautions such as glove boxes
, sticky pads, Vaseline barriers, safety suits, glov
es, sticky tape, silicone
vacuum grease
, sticky trap paste, and micro mesh are used to s
afely contain ticks and prevent them from escap
ing.

67. •Topical tick medicines may be toxic to animals
and humans. The synthetic pyrethroid
insecticide phenothrin
in combination with the hormone analogue
methoprene
was a popular topical flea and tick therapy for
felines.
Phenothrin kills adult ticks, while methoprene
kills eggs. Some products were withdrawn,
and others are known to cause adverse reactio

68. Tabanidae
•TabaninaeHorse-flies and deer flies are true
flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect
order Diptera
. The adults are often large and agile in flight.
Only female horseflies bite land vertebrates, i
ncluding humans, to
obtain blood.

69. Horse fly Dear fly

70. •They prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and s
hady areas, and are inactive at night. They are fou
nd all over the world except for some islands and
the polar regions (Hawaii, Greenland, Iceland
). Both horse-flies and botflies (Oestridae
) are sometimes referred to as gadflies.

71. •Adult horse-flies feed on nectar and plant
exudates; the males have weak mouthparts
and only the females bite animals to obtain enoug
h
protein from blood to produce eggs
. The mouthparts of females are formed into a sto
ut stabbing organ with two pairs of sharp cutting b
lades, and a
spongelike
part used to lap up the blood that flows from the
wound.

72. •Female horse-flies can transfer
blood-borne diseases
from one animal to another through their feed
ing habit. In areas where diseases occur, they
have been known to carry
equine infectious anaemia virus, some
trypanosomes, the filarial worm Loa loa,
anthrax among cattle and sheep, and
tularemia.

73. Description
•Adult tabanids are large flies with prominent
compound eyes, short antennae
composed of three segments, and wide bodies.
In females, the eyes are widely separated but i
n males, they are almost touching; they are ofte
n patterned and brightly
coloured
in life but appear dull in preserved specimens.

74. Tabanids are agile fliers; Hybomitra
species have been observed to perform aerial
manoeuvres
similar to those performed by fighter jets.

75. •Horseflies can lay claim to being the fastes
t flying insects; the male
Hybomitra hinei
has been recorded reaching speeds of up to
145
kilometres
per hour (90 mph) when pursuing a female
.

76. Distribution and habitat
•Tabanids are found worldwide, except for
the polar regions, but they are absent from
some islands such as Greenland, Iceland,
and Hawaii.

77. •They mostly occur in warm areas with suitable
moist locations for breeding, but also occupy a
wide range of habitats from deserts to alpine m
eadows. They are found from sea level to at lea
st 3,300 m (10,800
ft).

78. BIOLOGY
•Diet and biting behavior
•Adult tabanids feed on nectar and plant exudates
, and some are important pollinators of certain
specialised flowers;
several South African and Asian species in the
Pangoniinae
have spectacularly long proboscis adapted for the e
xtraction of nectar from flowers with long, narrow
corolla tubes.

79. Both males and females engage in nectar-
feeding, but females of most species are
anautogenous
, meaning they require a blood meal before t
hey are able to reproduce effectively. To obt
ain the blood, the females, but not the males,
bite animals, including humans.

80. The female needs about six days to fully digest
her blood meal and after that, she needs to find a
nother host.
The flies seem to be attracted to a potential victi
m by its movement, warmth, and surface texture
, and by the
carbon dioxide it breathes out.

81. Unlike many biting insects such as mosquitoes
, whose biting mechanism and saliva allow a bite
not noticed by the host at the time, bites from
tabanids
are immediately irritating to the victim, so that th
ey are often brushed off, and may have to visit mu
ltiple hosts to obtain sufficient blood.

82. •This behaviour
means that they may carry disease-causing or
ganisms from one host to another
.

83. Reproduction
•Mating often occurs in swarms, generally at
landmarks such as hilltops
. The season, time of day, and type of landmark u
sed for mating swarms are specific to particular s
pecies.

84. •Eggs
are laid on stones or vegetation near water, in clu
sters of up to 1000, especially on emergent water
plants. The eggs are white at first but darken with
age. They hatch after about six days, with the em
erging larvae using a special hatching spike to op
en the egg case.

85. The larvae
fall into the water or onto the moist ground below
.
Chrysops
species develop in particularly wet locations, whi
le
Tabanus
species prefer drier places. The larvae are legless
grubs, tapering at both ends. They have small hea

86. As disease vectors
•Tabanids are known vectors for some blood-borne
bacterial, viral, protozoan, and worm
diseases of mammals, such as the equine infectious
anaemia virus and various species of Trypanosoma
which cause diseases in animals and humans

87. •Species of the genus Chrysops transmit the
parasitic filarial worm Loa loa
between humans, and tabanids
are known to transmit anthrax
among cattle and sheep, and tularemia
between rabbits and humans.

88. •Blood loss is a common problem in some animals
when large flies are abundant. Some animals have
been known to lose up to 300 ml (11 imp fl oz;
10 US fl oz) of blood in a single day to tabanid
flies, a loss which can weaken or even kill them.

89. Management
•Control of tabanid flies is difficult. Malaise traps
are most often used to capture them, and these can be
modified with the use of baits and attractants that inclu
de carbon dioxide or
octenol.
A dark shiny ball suspended below them that moves in
the breeze can also attract them and forms a key part o
f a modified "Manitoba trap" that is used most often fo
r trapping and sampling the Tabanidae.

90. •Cattle can be treated with pour-on
pyrethroids
which may repel the flies, and fitting the
m with insecticide-impregnated
eartags
or collars has had some success in killing
the insects.

91. Bites
•Tabanid bites can be painful to humans. Usually,
a weal (raised area of skin) occurs around the
site; other symptoms may include urticaria
(a rash), dizziness, weakness, wheezing, and
angioedema
(a temporary itchy, pink or red swelling occurrin
g around the eyes or lips). A few people experien
ce an allergic reaction.

92. Culicoides
Biting midges can be a nuisance to campers,
fishermen, hunters, hikers, gardeners, and others
who spend time outdoors during early morning
and evenings, and even during the daytime on
cloudy days when winds are calm. They will
readily bite humans; the bites are irritating,
painful, and can cause long-lasting painful
lesions for some people.

93. A common observation upon experiencing a
bite from this insect is that something is biting,
but the person suffering cannot see what it is.
Biting midges are sometimes incorrectly
referred to as sand flies. Sand flies are insects
that belong to a different biological group and
should not be confused with the biting midges.

94. Distribution
There are over 4,000 species of biting midges in
the Ceratopogonidae family, and over 1,000 in just
one genus, Culicoides. The distribution of midges
in the genus Culicoides is world-wide.

95. The natural habitats of biting midges vary
by species. Areas with substantial salt
marsh habitat are major producers of
many biting midge species.

96. •Immature Stages:
The eggs can be cigar-, banana-, or sausage-
shaped and approximately 0.25 mm long. They
are white when first laid but later turn brown or
black. The eggs are laid on moist soil and
cannot withstand drying out.

97. Some species can lay up to 450 eggs per batch
and as many as seven batches in a lifespan. Eggs
typically hatch within two to 10 days of being
laid; time to hatch is dependent on the species and
temperatures.

98. •The larvae are worm-like, creamy white, and
approximately 2 to 5 mm long.

99. • Adults:
The adult no-see-ums are gray and less than 1/8-
inch long. The two wings possess dense hairs and
give rise to pigmentation patterns. These wing
patterns are used by biologists to identify species.

100. Figure 2. Adult biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis Wirth and Jones,
showing blood-filled abdomen and the characteristic wings patterns used for species identification.
Photograph by Ed T. Schmidtmann, USDA/ARS.

101. •Life Cycle
•Adults: Biting midges are holometabolous , progressing
from egg to larva to pupa, and finally to the adult stage.
The complete cycle can occur in two to six weeks, but is
dependent on the species and environmental conditions.
The adults are most abundant near productive breeding
sites, but will disperse to mate and to feed. The mean
distance for female flight is 2 km, less than half of that
distance for males.

102. •Male Culicoides typically emerge before the
females are ready to mate when the female
emerges from the pupal stage. Mating typically
occurs in flight when females fly into swarms
of males. Some species mate without
swarming; instead, the males go to hosts where
the female is likely to feed on blood; mating
occurs when she finishes feeding.

103. •Eggs: Males and females feed on nectar, but the
females require blood for their eggs to mature.
Some species are autogenous and therefore may
produce the first batch of viable eggs without a
blood meal using reserves stored from the larval
period; blood meals are required for subsequent
batches of eggs.

104. •The number of eggs produced varies among
species and size of bloodmeal. For example,
Culicoides furens (Poey) can lay 50 to 110 eggs
per bloodmeal, and C. mississippiensis
Hoffman, 25 to 50 eggs per bloodmeal. The
adults can live two to seven weeks in a
laboratory setting, but only a few weeks under
natural conditions.

105. •Larvae: Larvae require water, air and food
and are not strictly aquatic or terrestrial.
They cannot develop without moisture. The
larvae are present in and around salt-marsh
and mangrove swamps, on shores of
streams and ponds, and in muddy
substrates. They feed on small organisms.

106. •In the tropics, the larval habitat of many species
is in rotting fruit, and other water-holding
plants. Other larval habitats include mud, sand,
and debris at edges of ponds, lakes and springs,
tree holes, and slime-covered bark. The larval
stage can last from two weeks to a year,
depending on the species, temperatures, and
geographic area.

107. •While some larvae can develop in wet manure-
contaminated areas (Mullen 2002), they do not
develop inside the animal. The larvae also do
not develop inside humans or other animals.
•Pupae: The pupal stage typically lasts ~ two to
three days.

108. •Medical Significance
•In the U.S., the biting midges are primarily a
nuisance and the major medical issue
associated with Culicoides is allergic
reactions to the bites. However, like other
blood feeding Diptera, Culicoides species
are vectors of pathogens that can cause
disease in humans and animals.

109. •In Central and South America, western and central
Africa, and some Caribbean islands, biting midges
are the vectors of filarial worms in the genus
Mansonella. These parasites cause infection in
humans that produces dermatitis and skin lesions
because the adult worms are located in the skin.

110. •Biting midges, primarily the species Culicoides
sonorensis, are responsible for transmission of
bluetongue virus to sheep and cattle in the U.S.
Bluetongue is a serious disease of ruminants.
Bluetongue viruses are found world-wide and
are transmitted by different Culicoides species
in different regions.

111. •Other animal disease causing pathogens
transmitted by the bite of infected biting midges
include African Horsesickness virus.

112. Management and Prevention
•Historically, management methods included diking
and drainage of marshlands to reduce the habitats
used by the immature stages. The insecticide DDT
(Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was used to
target the adult stage. Currently, larval habitats are not
targeted in control efforts because of the extensive
amount of area that the habitats may cover, some
negative environmental impacts resulting from
changing water flow patterns of large areas

113. •Applications of insecticides targeting the adult
stage are not efficient. While this type of
application may kill biting midges active on a
given night, they are continually dispersing from
the larval habitat and entering areas of human
activity.

114. •On a large scale, removal trapping is conducted
using CO2 as an attractant to lure the biting midges
to an insecticide-treated target where they are
killed.

115. •Homeowners can install proper screening for windows
and patios to prevent no-see-ums from entering
residences and outdoor areas used for leisure and
entertaining. Most biting midges can pass through 16-
mesh insect wire screen and netting, so a smaller mesh
size is required.

116. •The small mesh size does limit air flow through
the screens. Additionally, because no-see-ums are
so small and are weak fliers, ceiling and window
fans can be used at high speeds to keep no-see-
ums out of small areas.

117. •Repellents containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-
meta-toluamide) typically used as mosquito
repellents are also labeled for use against no-
see-ums and can be applied prior to exposure to
the biting midges.

118. •Coastal areas provide primary habitat for biting
midges. Tourists and potential home and land
owners can consult local maps prior to visiting or
purchasing property in coastal areas, to
determine the proximity to biting midge
producing areas.

119. Thank you.......