A spatio-temporal _Culicoides_ species dataset produced by the French surveillance program from 2009 to 2012

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 14,895 records.

2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Balenghien T, Garros C, Delécolle J, Setier-Rio M, Mathieu B, Delécolle D, Akaddar A, Allène X, Rakotoarivony I, Lhoir J, Scheid B, Venail R, Chavernac D, Baldet T, Hammami P (2025). A spatio-temporal _Culicoides_ species dataset produced by the French surveillance program from 2009 to 2012. Version 1.3. GBIF Secretariat. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=fr_culicoides_2009_2012&v=1.3

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Cirad - UMR ASTRE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: a50323a7-2973-4042-9369-407f0b5efb19.  Cirad - UMR ASTRE publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF France.

Keywords

Samplingevent; Culicoides; monitoring; insect vector; entomology; Observation

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

The sampling was conducted across the entirety of mainland France (Corsica Island included), with one or two traps concurrently deployed in each department. Variations in site locations from year to year resulted in up to five sites per department over the four-year trapping period.

Taxonomic Coverage

Over 6,340,177 Culicoides individuals were collected. Specimens were identified down to species level, sexed, and categorized by gonotrophic (parous/nulliparous) and physiological (engorged) status. 82 different species were identified with more than 66% of the specimens belonging to the C. obsoletus/C. scoticus complex.

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

No Description available

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

The monitoring program targeted farms housing cattle, sheep, goat or mixed. The traps were positioned outside stables or near animal resting areas and operated from at least one hour before dusk to one hour after dawn, with the exact geographical coordinates of each farm recorded by the operator. The traps used were black light suction traps (Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute design). Insects attracted to the light were collected using a fan that directed them into a beaker containing soapy water. The soap ensured the insects sank and prevented them from drying out. Once collected, the specimens were transferred into 70% ethanol at room temperature for preservation and transported to identification centers. The samples were processed at three specialized sorting centers: Cirad (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement) and EID Med (Entente interdépartementale pour la démoustication du littoral méditerranéen) in Montpellier, and IPPTS (Institut de parasitologie et de pathologie tropicale) in Strasbourg. Expert entomologists performed species identification using morphological keys and the IIKC database. For specimens belonging to the C. obsoletus/C. scoticus complex, females were grouped together due to morphological indistinguishability. Damaged or incomplete specimens were excluded. In cases of excessively large samples, subsampling was performed to streamline the identification process, following a modified protocol outlined in Van Ark and Meiswinkel (1992). Specifically, if the total insect volume exceeded 3 mL, a subsample was taken, offering significant time savings. After subsampling, a preliminary sorting step was conducted under a stereomicroscope to isolate Culicoides from other insect species based on morphological traits, including body shape, antennal segment count, and wing patterns. Non-Culicoides specimens were not identified. Morphological identification was conducted following the morphological atlas from Delécolle (1985) updated when necessary with new species description by experts. Identification was conducted to the species level or, when differentiation was not possible, to the complex level. In total, 14,895 collections were performed under the supervision of the Directions départementales de la cohésion sociale et de la protection des populations (DDecPP), and 6,340,177 Culicoides individuals were identified by the expert entomologists.

Method step description:

1. The data collected at the time of sampling (events data) and at the time of identification (occurences data) were entered into the CIRAD Ocapi database (http://ocapi.cirad.fr/), and shared with the actors of the network (veterinary services: DDcsPP, and ministry of agriculture: DGAl). This database comprises three tables: farms, sampling events and entomological identification. Most of the environmental data were retrieved a posteriori using GIS approaches from various sources such as ERA-5 land or MODIS. The data were restructured using R software to meet GBIF publication criteria.

Collection Data

Bibliographic Citations

1. Van Ark H, Meiswinkel R. Subsampling of large light trap catches of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1992 Sep;59(3):183-9. PMID: 1437020.
2. Delécolle J.-C. Nouvelle contribution à l’étude systématique et iconographique des espèces du genre Culicoides, (Diptera) : (Cératopogonidae) du Nord-Est de la France. 1985

Additional Metadata