Fauna of Biting Midges ( Diptera : Simuliidae ) in Russia

Abstract

Blood-sucking midges of the family Simuliidae are small two-winged insects from the suborder of long-whiskers (Diptera: Nematocera). They are widely distributed in all landscape-geographical zones of the Russian Federation and have important medical and epidemiological significance as hematophagy and vectors of human and animal diseases. The hydrological regime of the watercourse and biotopic factors deter-mine the species composition and number of midges developing in the watercourse, as well as the blood-sucking activity of the flown females. The paper presents data on the species diversity of blood-sucking midges, by region, currently about 1600 species of midges belonging to 81 genera are known in the world fauna, and the question of the ecologi-cal properties of insects depending on the climatic features of habitats is raised. Presently, systematic studies of the areas and population density of the main vectors of infection on the territory of the Russian Federation are not carried out or are carried out only in some individual regions, which makes it much more difficult to assess the risk of introduction and spread of infections. Due to global warming, there is a possibility of penetration of the most plastic species of blood-sucking arthropods into the northern regions, which will have a direct impact on the epidemiology and epizootology of vector-borne diseases. This includes regular study of biota diversity, identification of changes, comparing them with shifts in environmental parameters, analysis of changes, conclusions on necessary measures to preserve biodiversity, and identifying the impacts of global changes on biota.