Objective To investigate the species distribution and species composition of Culicoides in Huzhu, Menyuan, Qilian, and Zeku county in Qilian Mountain National Park and Maixiu Nature Reserve in Qinghai province, China, and to discuss the influence of meteorological factors on the distribution of Culicoides in the above areas. Methods From July to August 2020, Culicoides midges were captured with light traps in the above four counties. After classification and identification, the Pearson correlation test and plotting of relationship between altitude, meteorological factors, and the number of collected Culicoides were performed using SPSS 25.0 and GraphPad Prism 8.2.1 softwares. Results A total of 8 417 Culicoides midges were collected, and 10 species from 5 subgenera were identified, including 6 newly recorded species in Qinghai province, namely C. grisescens, C. punctatus, C. segnis, C. nigritus, C. halonostictus, and C. pallidicornis. The dominant species in all four counties was C. grisescens, which accounted for 33.60%, 85.85%, 97.95%, and 97.97% of the total number of Culicoides midges at the four sampling sites, respectively. The blood sucking rates of C. grisescens, C. pallidicornis, and C. pulicaris were 2.23%, 1.23%, and 1.89% in Zeku county, respectively. The Pearson correlation test showed that the single-day number of captures of Culicoides had no correlation with altitude (R2=0.130, P=0.639) and wind speed (R2=0.059, P=0.641), but showed negative correlation with rainfall (R2=0.199, P=0.038) and average temperature (R2=0.838, P=0.010) in the survey area. Conclusion There are 10 species of Culicoides from 5 subgenera captured in the four counties of eastern Qinghai province. C. grisescens is the dominant species. The population density of Culicoides in this area is correlated with the rainfall and average temperature.
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