Pigmentation Associated with Oogenesis in the Biting Fly Culicoides Variipennis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae): Determination of Parity

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Abstract
The accuracy for parity determinations in Culicoides variipennis, based on differences in abdominal pigmentation, was assessed for colony and field-collected specimens. An increase in abdominal pigmentation indicated parity. Parity for 44 of 48 colony-reared females was judged correctly (92% of 143 determinations) by 3 observers who examined flies at 650x for increased abdominal pigmentation. Fifty adult females that originated from field-collected pupae had increased abdominal pigmentation following a blood meal. Also, increased abdominal pigmentation proved to be an accurate indicator of parity in field-collected C. variipennis; of 259 females with increased abdominal pigmentation, 248 were judged parous by examination of ovarian tracheal patterns (96%). Flies that had taken 2 or 3 blood meals had prominent abdominal pigmentation, but the number of blood meals that had been taken could not be determined by the degree of pigmentation.