Physiological age of female bloodsucking midges (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the south of Tyumen region

Abstract

Despite the fact that blood-sucking flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) are mass bloodsuckers in a number of regions of Siberia and Far East, their biology in Russia and in countries of far abroad is still little studied. The purpose of this work is to study the physiological age of female flies in the subzone of the southern taiga of Tyumen region. Physiological age of female flies was determined by the method of V.P. Polovodova and T.S. Detinova, which was initially developed for mosquitoes, with a modification for black gnats by the number of “yellow bodies” - extensions of egg tube-ducks. Studies on the physiological age of females of one species of blood-sucking flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) Byssodon maculatus Mg., found in the subzone of the southern taiga of the forest zone. The species are mass bloodsuckers. It completes mainly one gonotrophic cycle, however by the end of the season the number females having laid eggs two times reaches 20-30%. A large portion of the female population (10 -22%) fails to complete any gonotrophic cycle. Due to the cold times at the end of the summer season, there is a rejuvenation of the population due to the death of physiologically old females. Comparing changes in population and age composition of females allows to claim that the first two species have two and the last one - just one geniture during the season. Determination of the physiological age of the female or the number of gonotrophic cycles done by a female, and accordingly, number of blood suckings is of practical interest, not only a theoretical one, since it gives the possibility to evaluate the epidemiological situation in areas where flies are vectors of a number of infectious and invasionary diseases of thalaremia, onchocercosis, simulidotoxicosis. All this points to the relevance of the study of population density as vectors of infections in the territory of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, it was not carried out extensively, and even some research is being done in the framework of narrow studies and only in some regions.