To bite or not to bite...
5 Aug 2010 by Evoluted New Media
Tall men and overweight women are more likely to be bitten by midges according to new research in Scotland.
Tall men and overweight women are more likely to be bitten by midges according to new research in Scotland.
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Biting midges prefer tall men and overweight women Credit Joaquim Alves Gaspar |
Dr James Logan from Rothamsted Research and colleagues at Aberdeen University questioned 325 participants and spectators at a 120km duathlon in Loch Ness, asking if they’d been bitten and how many times. The study found taller men and women with a large BMI were more likely to be bitten by the Culicoides impunctatus – the Scottish biting midge, which is responsible for 90% of biting attacks on humans in Scotland.
“The preference for taller people could be associated with midge behaviour and flight patterns, as midges are found at great numbers with increasing height, particularly between 1-4 metres,” Dr Logan said, “Larger people would provide a more substantial visual target for host-seeking midges as well as greater amounts of heat, moisture and attractant semiochemicals (behaviour modifying chemicals), such as carbon dioxide, which are the cues the insects use to locate a suitable meal.”
The study also suggested that children inherit the tendency to be bitten or not from their parents. Dr Logan suggests that people who are bitten less produce natural repellent chemicals – a specific mixture of geranylacetone and methylheptenone – in their body odour. It’s possible that his ability is under genetic control and could be inherited, and researchers are now using molecular techniques to investigate further.
It is hoped that this study could provide new avenues for investigating human-insect interactions for other insects. The scientists have also teamed up with an Asian company to develop a product to deter mosquitoes, midges and ticks.
