Abstract:
The value of the dung of game animals as a larval habitat for Culicoides species was briefly investigated in 1973/4 in the Kruger National Park, Transvaal, Republic of South Africa. A total of 4 species in the subgenus Avaritia was reared, 3 from elephant dung, 2 from zebra dung and I from the dung of buffalo. These early studies have recently led to more intensive rearing and a better understanding of the systematics of this subgenus in the Afrotropical region.