Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Data from: Host associations of <i>Culicoides </i>biting midges in Northeastern Kansas, USA

Metadata Updated: June 5, 2025

Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are hematophagous flies that transmit several viruses of veterinary concern to livestock. Understanding blood feeding behaviors is integral towards identification of putative vector species and preventing the transmission of these pathogens. PCR-based blood meal analysis was conducted on 440 blood-engorged Culicoides midges collected in northeastern Kansas, with 316 (71.8%) returning non-human vertebrate identifications at the ≥95% identity match level. Broadly, Culicoides sonorensis, Culicoides stellifer, and Culicoides variipennis were found to feed heavily on mammalian hosts, while Culicoides crepuscularis and Culicoides haematopotus fed on avian hosts. The blood meals in all specimens were graded prior to DNA extraction to determine whether blood meal size or digestion status significantly impacted the likelihood of a quality host match. Size had a significant impact on the likelihood of a quality match at grades 3–5, whereas digestion only significantly impacted outcomes at the most extreme grade. These vector–host dynamics have not previously been studied in Culicoides collected in Kansas, which represents a unique tallgrass prairie biome within the United States that is heavily interspersed with livestock operations. Based on these data, the highly abundant species C. crepuscularis and C. haematopotus are unlikely to be major vectors of mammalian viruses.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons Attribution

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date March 30, 2024
Metadata Updated Date June 5, 2025
Data Update Frequency R/P1M

Metadata Source

Harvested from USDA JSON

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date March 30, 2024
Metadata Updated Date June 5, 2025
Publisher Agricultural Research Service
Maintainer
Identifier 10.15482/USDA.ADC/25029695.v1
Data Last Modified 2025-05-01
Public Access Level public
Data Update Frequency R/P1M
Bureau Code 005:18
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 0f4604cf-3000-4acb-bf3f-ac0ded14909a
Harvest Source Id d3fafa34-0cb9-48f1-ab1d-5b5fdc783806
Harvest Source Title USDA JSON
License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Program Code 005:040
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 16c0d83eaff48e496898131c217012fc9858c4fb2c07d9b8b2358cb93cd48ec2
Source Schema Version 1.1
Temporal 2020-06-18/2021-10-06

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.