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Culicoides colonies

Feeding Culicoides. © IAH; adapted from a photo published in PLoS Biology 6(8):e210 under a CC Attribution License.IAH Pirbright

(C. nubeculosus)

The vector-borne disease programme at IAH Pirbright maintains colonies of C. nubeculosus in a custom-built insectary building. The creation of these colonies was fully described in a 1974 paper by John Boorman [click for PDF] and lines have been continuously maintained since. Colony-bred C. nubeculosus are available for research and commercial use.

Availability

  • Please organise experiments in advance of orders and allow at least a weeks notice between completing the MTA process and your first orders, unless by prior arrangement.
  • Cost is £100/pot for unsorted adults for non-partner organisations or £145/g dry weight. Each pot contains approximately 2-300 females and 2-300 males.
  • C. nubeculosus can be sorted to female-only for insecticide trials that can be disrupted by mating activity, price for these as a special order is by negotiation.
  • Any training provided by us to either initiate colonies or provide expertise in bioassay design will be costed at consultancy rates. Without an appropriate agreement in place we will not provide any expertise beyond the provision of insects.
  • Any C. nubeculosus colony initiated through collaborative studies with us and maintained using methodologies derived from ours by organisations other than our own will operate under an appropriate material transfer agreement (MTA). We also require acknowledgement if publications result from the use of supplied Culicoides.
  • Where studies remain unpublished, we require the right to use data produced from the trials during our ongoing work as a publically-funded body to advise Defra on combating diseases of livestock.

Ordering midges from the colonies

  1. Email: simon.carpenter@iah.ac.uk, cc'ing christopher.sanders@iah.ac.uk to discuss your requirements and obtain an appropriate MTA document to sign off before the order is placed.
  2. Complete an order form (available here).
  3. Return the completed order form to eric.denison@iah.ac.uk, cc'ing robyn.manley@iah.ac.uk and simon.carpenter@iah.ac.uk. Culicoides orders will be confirmed prior to shipping.
  4. Please send confirmation of receiving midges following arrival to eric.denison@iah.ac.uk
  5. Please acknowledge use of colonies in any subsequent papers/reports.
  6. Please provide feedback on services and suggestions for improvement to simon.carpenter@iah.ac.uk.
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