Females from genus Culicoides are responsible for transmitting important pathogenic agents to animals and humans, including bluetongue, Schmallenberg and African horse sickness viruses and filarids. Species identification in laboratory is usually performed by visualization of their wing pattern and/or using other morphological characters. During the National Entomological Surveillance Program for Bluetongue Disease performed in Portugal (2005–2013) several Culicoides midges were captured near domestic ruminants and, more recently, others were collected in a zoo from the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon near sylvatic animals (2018–2019). From a total of 5,364 analysed specimens, some morphological alterations were observed in 154 specimens (2.9 %) from three different Culicoides spp. (Culicoides obsoletus, Culicoides scoticus and Culicoides dewulfi) on palpi (e.g. defective sensorial pits), antennae (e.g. antennae with defective or fused articles), abdomen (e.g. abdomen with aberrant structures) and spermathecae (e.g. specimens with one and four spermathecae). These types of anatomical alterations probably occur due to genetic or morphogenetic malformation. Also, they are compatible with midge survival and thus maintained in adult specimens. The report of different types of anatomical anomalies is important, since these morphological alterations can lead to incorrect species identification during sample analysis. Thus, this work gives essential information concerning some morphological anomalies that can be observed in Culicoides biting midges, being their first reference in C. scoticus and C. dewulfi species.

Culicoides属的雌性负责将重要的病原体传播给动物和人类，包括蓝舌病、Schmallenberg 和非洲马病病毒和丝虫。实验室中的物种鉴定通常是通过可视化它们的翅膀图案和/或使用其他形态特征来进行的。在葡萄牙进行的蓝舌病国家昆虫学监测计划（2005-2013 年）期间，在家养反刍动物附近捕获了几只库利科斯蠓，最近，在里斯本大都市区的动物园中收集了其他动物（2018-2019 年） . 从总共 5,364 个分析标本中，在来自三个不同的 154 个标本 (2.9 %) 中观察到了一些形态学改变。库蠓属。（Culicoides obsoletus、Culicoides scoticus和Culicoides dewulfi）在触须（例如有缺陷的感觉坑）、触角（例如具有缺陷或融合物品的触角）、腹部（例如具有异常结构的腹部）和受精囊（例如具有一个和四个受精囊的标本）。这些类型的解剖学改变可能是由于遗传或形态发生畸形而发生的。此外，它们与蠓存活相容，因此在成年标本中得以保存。不同类型的解剖异常的报告很重要，因为这些形态学改变会导致样本分析过程中的物种识别不正确。因此，这项工作提供了有关一些形态异常的基本信息，这些异常可以在Culicoides咬蠓，是它们在C.scoticus和C. dewulfi物种中的第一个参考。