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Vertebrate host specificity of wild-caught blackflies revealed by mitochondrial DNA in blood

Author

Summary, in English

Blood-feeding blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) transmit pathogens, harass vertebrate hosts and may cause lethal injuries in attacked victims, but with traditional methods it has proved difficult to identify their hosts. By matching mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences in blood collected from engorged blackflies with stored sequences in the GenBank database, relationships between 17 blackfly species and 25 species of vertebrate hosts were revealed. Our results demonstrate a predominance of large hosts and marked discrimination between blackflies using either avian or mammalian hosts. Such information is of vital interest in studies of disease transmission, coevolutionary relationships, population ecology and wildlife management.

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Pages

152-155

Publication/Series

Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences

Volume

271

Issue

S4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Royal Society Publishing

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Status

Published

Research group

  • Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1471-2954