Culicoides responses to 1-octen-3-ol and carbon dioxide in salt marshes near Sea Island, Georgia, U.S.A.

The semiochemicals carbon dioxide (CO2) and 1-octen-3-ol (octenol) were evaluated as attractants at several release rates, alone and in combination, for the major coastal species of biting midges in Georgia: Culicoides furens, C. hollensis and C. melleus (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). The data show that CO2 is an effective attractant for the females of all three species, but each has a different response pattern. In contrast, octenol was an effective attractant only for C.furens, either alone or in combination with CO2; octenol had a repellent effect on the other two species. The combination of octenol and CO2 had a synergistic effect on the collections of C.furens.